The Element of Emerald
by M0b1uz
Summary: Two worlds. Two groups of heroes. Both betrayed and grief-stricken by the the loss of a loved one. Their enemies have united against them, and now, the only way to ensure the safety of both worlds...is together! Some parings, and plenty o' funny.
1. Prologue

**Okay, so this is my first try at a fanfiction. I have had this idea for a very long time now. So basically, this is a cross-over between two of my three favorite franchises: SONIC the Hedgehog and aAvatar: The Last Airbender (the third one is DragonBall Z, but we'll save that for another time). The story will start off from the perspective of Sonic and co. and will move on to the Gaang. **

**This takes place three months post-series when the world (Aang's world) is still recovering from the war; if you haven't seen the finale, I highly recommend you do to fully understand the plot (and because the finale is ****awsome!)**

**I already have come up with summary of the entire story, so I will take few suggestions. **

**So, without further distraction, I present to you, fellow readers, The Element of ... **

**Sonic: Aren't you forgeting something, Sir Types-alot?**

**Huh? Oh! right. *ahem***

**Disclaimer: I do not own SONIC the Hedgehog or Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**Sonic: Good boy**

**Right. Where was I? Oh, right... story**

* * *

**Space Colony Ark 7:08p.m. Eastern Time**

If one might happen to be observing the stars via telescope, at the right angle and time, one could come across the utter magnificence that is Space Colony Ark, one of, if not the, greatest scientific achievment the world has ever known. Designed by the world's top minds, including Dr. Gerald Robotnik, the most brilliant man of his time,or any other time for that matter; ironicly enough, the grandfather and inspiration to the imfamous Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. In many ways, this display of raw genius is much like the source of ultimate power it was designed to harness- the Chaos Emeralds. In the right hands, like that of Earth's hero and undisputed "fastest thing alive", Sonic the Hedgehog, it can be used for good, bring about world peace, and change the earth for the better. But in the wrong hands, like that of the ancient alien warlord, the late Black Doom, it can just as easily be used to destroy the world, and bring about a great purge of intergalactic proportions; and now was no exeption. If one were to come across the space colony at this very moment, one would be astounded to see the dozens of enormous spacecraft surrounding the great space station. For at this very moment, the aformentioned Dr. Eggman was taking this window of opportunity to execute his latest and greatest plan yet, and a certain aformentioned hedgehog hot on his trail...

Explosions and gunfire were ringing throuout the halls, countless Eggman robots shooting in every direction, all releasing their firepower on one single target, and missing every shot.

"Whoooooo-Hooooh!", cried a blue blur as it bolted straight through one of the robots. It then quickly ricocheyed off of another one ,knocking it into a wall and smashing it. The blur repeated the same trick with five more robots until finaly schreeched to a hault, revealing itself to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Two of the robots tried to flank Sonic by standing on either side of him and simultaneously firing two bazookas at him. Sonic merely ducked, and the two robots ended up blowing themselves up.

"Man, Eggman's toys just keep getting weaker and weaker", complained Sonic.

"I know what you mean", said a voice behind him.

Sonic turned around to see his best friend and former rival, Knuckles the Echidna, casually holding a robot in his left hand.

"Is it just me, or are these 'bots lighter than the last ones?",quiried Knuckles,who then tossed the robot out of sight.

Just then, a large, round shadow appeared above Knuckles. Knuckles looked up just in time to see a gigantic malet speeding down at him. The not-enough-sense-to-move echinda closed his eyes, and prepared for a world of hurt when suddenly, the malet stopped. Confused, Knuckles cautiously opened one eye to see the enormous malet caught in the strong, metallic arms of E-123-Omega.

Despite Omega's great strength, he was clearly having great difficulty holding off the immense, hammer-wielding mech. He quickly activated his jet boosters, boosting his strength enough to start lifting up the huge, hunk of steal.

As the former-badnik was gaining the advantage, the mech was completely oblivious to a surprise attack from Rouge the Bat, backflip-kicking it off of Omega, and ascended just in time for a yellow sphere to zip passed her, and ricochey off of three floating robots, destroying them.

The sphere then revealed itself to be Shadow the Hedgehog, who still in mid-air launched a volley of Chaos Spears down onto the still-disoriented mech, finishing it off. Shadow touched down right next to Rouge and Omega just before the headless robot fell ocer with loud _thud._

Then, a mysterious clapping could be heard. The trio turned to see Sonic clapping at their "performance".

"Wow, great form, guys. You must of been workin' on that one for weeks", the blue hedgehog joked,"Is that your knew Team Move? What do ya call it?

Shadow merely crossed his arms, turned around, closed his eyes, and said nothing.

"Shadow?" Sonic tried again.

Still nothing.

"Oh come on, Shadow, you're not still mad at me, are you?"

Shadow remained motionless: however, he did begin to speak.

" 'Cm'on, Shads, come down from your perch and take some _r'_n_'r. nobody _ever touches the Ark' ", the black and red hedgehog mumbled to himself with a goofy slur.

"Are... are you quoting me?" asked the confused blue hedgehog.

Shadow turned his attention to his large, robotic comrad. "Omega, send a message to Sonic saying that no one ever touches Space Colony Ark because I am always on my 'perch' protecting it", he ordered him.

Omega complied, and stomped over to Sonic. "COMRADE SONIC, YOU HAVE RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM SHAD-"

"Omega, go send a reply to Shadow saying that a certain fake hedgehog might have a rather high opinion of himself" Sonic cut the robot off.

Omega stomped back over to Shadow. "COMRADE SHADOW, COMRADE SONIC HAS REPLIED TO YOUR-"

"Omega, send another message to Sonic depicting how my opinion of myself is very consistent, and how he'll just make things worse by bringing him and his little fan club along", Shadow reordered Omega.

Omega then stomped back over to Sonic. "COMRADE SONIC, YOU HAVE RECEIVED ANOTHER MES-"

"Omega, kindly send another reply to that static-haired ingrate reminding him that if it wasn't for my 'fan club', he'd be long dead right now", Sonic commanded the robot.

Omega, by now having thorough perspective of the situation, obediently stomped back to Shadow. "COMRADE SHADOW, COMRADE SONIC HAS-"

"Omega, please send one more message to that chilly dog-addicted wannabe correcting his statement in the way that it was _I_ who saved all of _you, _and, unlike me, he has only so long to live."

"Dude, I'm sixteen."

"Then _maybe_ you should start acting your age!"

"Oh yeah? Well if you acted _your_ age, you'd probably be in some trailer park throwing soda cans at some rotten kids!"

"You wanna throwdown, blue hedgehog!"

"Geez, old man, is your mind gone already! I thought you'd at least pick that up sooner!"

"GUYS!"

The two bickering hedgehogs looked over to the source of the scream: for the entire duration of their argument, Silver the Hedgehog was using his telekanesis to hold off an enormous, green, steemroller-armed robot.

"Can't you two find a better time time for this!" Silver grunted, and thrusted his hand forward, pushing the robot into a crowd of smaller robots, destroying them all.

"Sonic and Shadow never argued this much before", observed Knuckles.

"Sonic and Shadow never talked this much before, either", commented Rouge.

Rouge made an accurate statement; however, this was partialy Sonic's fault. It was Sonic in the first place who attempted to convince Shadow to leave the Ark and take the weekend off. When that didn't work, Sonic taunted Shadow, claiming that he was afraid to come down due to fear of becoming soft. Shadow, instinctively defending his title as the "ultimate lifeform", declared that he feared nothing in a Gauston-like manner, and promptly desended to Earth using the Ark's atificial chaos emmiter to fuel his Chaos Control, thus leaving the space station unattended. Once Dr. Eggman caught wind of the hedgehog's departure, he imediately rounded up his Egg-Fleet and headed for the Ark. The only mystery at the preasent moment was what the mad scientist planned to do with the gargantuous vessel.

The heroes did not have time to contemplate the matter, as a wave of armed robots had entered their sight.

As if on cue, Miles "Tails" Prower dropped right in their path in his pattented Tornado Walker. Omega boosted to his side, and they both unleashed a volley of gunfire that gradualy cut through the wave like a hot chain-saw through butter. Though not gradualy enough, as the number of robots in the hall (not including the dead ones) steadily increased.

Tails turned to Sonic, still shooting. "Sonic, hurry! We'll cover you!" he shouted.

"Ten four! Alright guys, that egg's not gonna crack itself! Let's go!" the azure hedgehog cried, gesturing for Shadow and Silver to follow. He jumped up over Tails and Omega and made his way down the hall, bouncing off of the heads of the dictracted robots.

Silver flew after him, and after a breif "hmph", Shadow followed, intead dashing his way through the robots.

* * *

In an outer section of the Ark, a slightly different battle was playing out...

Vector the Crocodile was engaging in sword-play with one of the robots, making fake muskiteer noises and poses as seen in the movies. "Hah-hah...ho-ho...hoo-hoo...hu-OW!" the crocodile yelped in pain after being thwacked on the head by his lance-weilding machanical opponent. "Why, you little..." Vector punched the robot's face in, and kicked it away.

"Stupid robot. Almost broke my headphones..." the brawny croc mumbled to himself.

He turned to an identictal robot, except this one had a gun. Before it could fire, however, it was horizontily sliced in thirds by an unseen force, athough Vector automaticaly knew who it was.

A small portion of space seemed to be destorted as Espio the Chamelion- weilding a pair of kunai- un-camoflauged himself into visibility. Espio smirked at his handy work, until he noticed a large hunk of scrap to his right flying toward him. He quickly ducked at the last possible second. Vector tried to hold in a chuckle at his startled expression.

Embarrassed, Espio turned his head angrily toward the thrower. "Watch it, Mighty!" he shouted.

Mighty the Armidillo's ears lowered slightly. "Oh, gee, sorry, Espio, it's just been a while and..." the red armidillo trailed off apologeticly.

Meanwhile, a floating robot was cut open by a small, orange blur, and another was punctured by the same blur. Both units fell down and exploded simultaniously.

"Yeah! The skies belong to Charmy once more!" Charmy Bee cried in victory.

"We're in space, Charmy", Espio reminded him

At this, Charmy let his limbs dangle limp. "...oh yeah..." The bee's limbs shot back to life at a sudden relization:" Hey! Where'd Ray go?"

"Hey, where is Ray?" Mighty pondered as well. He lost sight of his best friend at some point into the battle.

Espio seemed curious as well about the squirel's sudden disapearance, until he realized that there was only one place someone like Ray the Flying Squirel would want to be under these conditions. Without saying a

word, the skilled chamelion walked over to the confused Vector, and jabbed the croc in his stomach, causing him to regurgitate a siliva-covered Ray.

"_Ewww_..." was Charmy's natural reaction.

"It the fight over?" Ray tried, making himself look even more pathetic.

Espio looked down at the slimey squirel in discust. "Please tell me you were looking for treasure in Vector's esaphagus, because no one is _that_ cowardice. Here..." Espio kicked one of the robots' rifles over to Ray.

"If your not going to help us, use that to fight your back to the ship."

Team Chaotix walked off without him.

Ray weighed his options, then compared his chances of survival. He finaly decided that picking up the gun and darting after the team was the wiser choice, and did so.

* * *

Sonic and Shadow did a cross-homing attack, making an _X_ in mid-air and smashing through two robots at the same time. Silver lifted a robot with his telekenisis and balled his hand into a fist, crushing it from all directions, eventualy turning it to basketball-sized sphere and launched the sphere through several other robots at a one hundred-degree angle with bullet speed.

Sonic was about to dash through a big, blue robot when all of a sudden...

***splat***

The mecha was flattened like a pancake under a large, red hammer with a golden trim.

_Oh no..._

"Hiya', Sonic!" Amy Rose cheerfily greeted her quote-on-quote "boyfriend", lifting her signature Piko Piko Hammer over her shoulder

"Ugh...yeah...hiya', Amy", Sonic smacked himself mentaly for not seeing this coming before hand.

"You know, these dark, dusty halls can get pretty scary, but it's always good to _someone there to protect you_", the pink hedgehog cooed, trespassing well into Sonic's comfort zone.

It's not that Sonic didn't find Amy attractive. In fact, he once considered taking her out for a movie. but the very sight of her effortlessly hold a hammer bigger than his own head (and Sonic's head was pretty big) always proved to be an effective hedgehog-repelent. And right now, that thing looked like it was staring him square in the eye.

"Uuuugh...good idea. Why don't you go protect Omega?" He quickly suggested before blasting off after Silver and Shadow.

Amy stared, shocked, but then narrowed her eyes, frustrated that Sonic turned her down once again. Then, without looking, crushed the head of legless robot desperately clawing its way to safety.

* * *

After litle more "redecorating" to the halls, the three hedgehogs found themselves in one of Space Colony Ark's huge cafeterias; currently occupied by a large gathering of mechs, turtle-turrets, and enough heavily-armored infantry to level a city block.

The trio was temporarily stunned to see this many badniks in one place.

Sonic was the first to regain his composure, and pointed out at the robots. " Alright guys: it's time to clean up the Kitchen!"

Silence...

"...Realy?" Shadow inquired, rubbing the peninsula between his eyes.

The three initiated their Team Blast: the Atomic Triple _S _Cyclone (or at least that's what Sonic liked to call it). Sonic and Shadow stood at either side of Silver, and jumped into their ball forms. Silver caught the two balls with his telekenisis, and levitated between them. The balls began orbiting around Silver at alarming speeds like electrons around an atom (hence Sonic's silly name), covering Silver within a large sphere of blue and yellow streaks of energy. And then, it was off, flattening two robots unlucky enough to be in front. A mech tried to stop the orb with its body, but ended up losing its upper half in a flash. Another average-sized unit stood in its path, shivering, until the sphere blasted upwards by ninety degrees, and soared for the flying robots, devouring them all in its power. The orb instantly descended, still evading the robot from before; it went for the turtle-turrets, knocking four away like cans and grinding the fith against the wall, skidding it to pieces. The ball passed by the same robot again, once more completely missing it. It repeated this pattern several more times until every other Eggman-originated machine in the room was torn to nothing.

The remaining robot looked in all directions, realizing it was now all alone. The unit then calculated that a divine presence must be watching it in for it to last this long, so it turned to leave, until the orb came out of nowhere and ran the robot over as it made its own way out of the room.

* * *

Knuckles socked a robot, uppercutted another, right-hooked a third, and kicked a fourth's head off, sending it bouncing off of other pawns.

"Gooooooaaaaallll!" the red echinda laughed at his own reference to soccer."Man alive! This is more fun than I've had in months!" he cheered, pumping his fists in the air and punching another robot.

Rouge was about to agree in a flirtarious tone, until she realized something was wrong."We've gotta get out of here."

"What? Why?" Knuckles questioned while punching another robot,"These guys are easy!"

"_Exactly_", Rouge punted a robot.

Knuckles held off a robot with his right hand."I'm not following. How's that bad?" Knuckles was still holding off the robot.

"Why would Eggman make a bunch of cheap, lightweight models to storm the Ark when he knows we're just going to destroy them all and hand what's left back to him?" Rouge asked, spin-kicking another robot.

Knuckles was _still _holding off the robot"Um... acceptence?"

"No, a distraction. He's thrown together a bunch of scrap for us to play with while he does whatever he came here to do", she explained while delivering a vicious barrage of kicks to a robot's head and ending the combo with a knee to its midsection.

Knuckles' arm was becoming somewhat strained."That... actually makes sense", the echidna agreed before grabbing the robot with both arms and slamming it against the floor.

"What makes sense?" Tails interviened, somehow hearing part of their conversation between the explosions.

"Rouge thinks all these robots are just decoys", Knuckles made it clear to the young fox.

"Decoys? Why would Eggman be willing to waste this many parts?" Tails emvasized his point by motioning to all the newly-added scrap in the hall.

The former jewl thief set the back of her hands on her hips."Shouldn't you be pondering that in your head?" she counter-asked Tails, correcting his point of view.

The three thought hard on what this could mean, their upbeat attitudes beginning to wane.

* * *

The orb dashed through the hall, evisorating the mechs like they weren't even there. An E-2000 hovered far in front of it, converting into jet-mode and firing its lazer cannon.

The beam did little more than refract off of the sphere, causing divisions of the beam to spiral around it and dice cut every robot the sphere passed by, until it finally collided with the source, the accumulated energy igniting an immense explosion that fried any other robot nearby.

The smoke cleared, and the orb was all that remained. Its hunger quenched, the sphere disapated and vanished, leaving only three exausted hedgehogs.

"Man, I hate doin' that", Silver groaned.

"Speak for yourself", a rather ill-looking Shadow retorted before hurling in one of the destroyed robot's heads.

The dizzy Sonic just now found his hands."Yeah,yeah, it may not be good if you wanna keep your lunch, but it works", the blue hedgehog dismissed his allies complaints,"Now come on. We gotta get to the main computer terminal if we're gonna kick Eggman's butt for the billionth-and-first time", he joked as he trotted down the hall.

"You mean _you _have to", Shadow corrected him suddenly.

Sonic stopped."What?"

"You heard what I said", the black hedgehog replied, looking far less quizzy.

Sonic turned around fully,"You mean, you guys aren't coming?"

"It's like you said, Sonic", Silver explained,"You've faced Dr. Eggman a billion times, usually alone if I've been told correctly. What makes this time any different?" the silvery-white hedgehog shrugged as he spoke.

Sonic seemed taken back slightly by Silver's acute awarness of his own routine lifestyle. He then turned to the black hedgehog,"And what about you, Shads? This is _your _Ark."

Shadow blew the question away with his hand."Please. The doctor is your nemesis. The only thing I'm concerned with is the Ark's condition, and I fail to see why he would want to destroy it."

Sonic was touched."Realy? Wow, you guys are the best!"

The dark hedgehog crossed his arms."Of course there is still the matter of helping me clean up the Ark afterwards, like we agreed beforehand?"

Sonic paled. He instantly recalled the promise he made before the battle to Shadow that he would help him clean all the debris from the Ark for leaving the station vulnerable in the first place. Sonic honestly didn't expect his look-a-like to remember that promise after all that action, nor did he expect their'd be so many robot parts to clean up.

"Ugh, yeah...good luck with that", and just like that he was off.

Shadow looked confused."Sonic? Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog wasn't turning around.

"YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO CLEAN ALL THIS CRUD UP ON MY OWN!" Shadow yelled for him, but it was futile.

Silver sighed."He's gone, Shadow", he said with more than a hint of pity.

The black hedgehog began to glow red, but he walk off. It didn't matter. He could just dupe the echinda into doing it for him.

* * *

Meamwhile, in Space Colony Ark's central computer terminal, a certain overweight scientist was typing franticly at the keyboard, setting his "mysterious" plan into motion.

He was mumbling nervously to himself, as usual..."Com'on... gotta hurry up... That hedgehog could be here any minute now..."

"Actually, I'm already here."

The evil genius almost had a heart attack at the sound of said hedgehog's voice. He quickly spun around to see him."Sonic! Heh, your too late! I already have full access to the Ark's-"

"Oh, be quiet, it's not like there was a forcefield around it", Sonic interrupted the scientist as he walked across the thin walkway connecting the terminal to the door that without which the room would be floorless,"Ya know, I know you put a lot of work into your evil monologues, but why don't we just skip to the Final Boss so I can go home and have dinner?"

"You...wait...'final boss'? You think all this is some sort of game!" Eggman fumed.

"Well, I don't know what else you'd call. Lately, your plans are becoming more predictable than prime time television", the heroic anthro replied honestly.

"'PREDICTABLE'! YOU THINK I'M-"

Sonic raised his palm to Eggman's face, signaling to yield."Stop. Just stop. We all know how this goes: first, you find information on some ancient mystical so-and-so; next, you formulate a quick, holey scheme while scrubbing yourself off in the shower, or "EggShower" as you like to call it; then, you head to the nearest hardwear store and buy as many cheap appliances as counterfeit money can buy so you can assemble your 'army'. After I bust a few tin cans, you pop out o' nowhere and tell me _all_ about your 'latest and greatest plan' to take over the world, which you've failed to do so far. After a bit of weight-related insults, you hover away in your rocket-propelled sofa, and I go call Tails so he can fly me over to the ancient Aztec ruins or whatever, picking up some friends along the way. When we finally destroy your Final Boss, which I mentioned earlier, your newfound magical powers backfire into your face, and I have to go Super Sonic in order to stop the world from being sucked into a black hole or that kinda' jazz. Then you return to your not-so-secret base and relocate, whining all the way about how you never win and your plan would of worked if it wasn't for blah blah blah. Then no one hears from you for a little while- I may catch a glimpse of you in a supermarket once or twice- and then we're right back where we started. Thankfully though, I've managed to smuggle a little somethin-somethin behind all my friends backs to break this endless cycle for now..."

Having finished his rant, Sonic closed his eyes and clenched his fist, digging deep inside himself. Then, to Eggman's suprise, he produced all seven Chaos Emeralds, each jewel with its own designated color orbiting around the hedgehog, illuminating him."But to show that I'm still a sport, I'm gonna give you time to come up with a new speech before I power up and pull the plug on this month's evil plot. So, Eggman, tell me, what is it you now have full access to?"

Eggman was paralyzed, his moustache drooping, absorbing his nemeses' entire dialogue. However, oddly enough, his expression of astonishment quickly morphed into an expression of victory."Actually, my fine, furry friend, you took the words right out of my mouth!"

Out of nowhere, seven clawed tentacles lunged from all angles and simultaniously grabbed each of the emeralds, yanking them all out of Sonic's control. Sonic looked up to see the tentacles meet together at the joints of a gray hovering robot.

"Oh, and for the record, you thinking I'm predictable just shows how predictable _you _are!"

The robot flung each of the Chaos Emeralds into an emerald-imprinted outlet behind the holographic minitor, thus giving Eggman the power source he required.

"This isn't the first time I've tricked you like this, you know!" the scientist announced, gesturing to the emeralds.

Now was Sonic's turn to be speechless."...well, at least you see my point. Although, I'm still seeing one major problem in your strategy, Doc: _I'm_ still here."

Eggman folded his fingers."Which is why I've arranged a little tour of the earth's atmosphere, hosted by an old friend."

Sonic looked puzzled."'Tour of the...'old friend'? Whachoo' talkin'bout, Doc!"

Just then, a large, famillar shadow loomed above the hedgehog's head. Manning up, Sonic slowly turned his head to the origin, and it was noneother than his infamous mechanized doppleganger: Neo Metal Sonic.

_**"Hello, tiny"**_, he hissed.

Sonic's pupils shrank."...oh, now I get it", it was official, Sonic had now been owned.

Metal Sonic rapped his huge, clawed hand around Sonic's head and threw him agaist the exit door. As quickly as Sonic recovered, the metallic monster rocketed after him, lauching them both through the door that opened automaticly at the last minute, leaving Eggman alone in the room.

The sinister doctor flashed his signiture giddy grin."Heh heh heh...now...to put your chaotic attributes to not-so-good use", he chuckeled as he turned to a large ascending jar-like cage containing an enraged but overtaken Chaos.

* * *

Metal Sonic zoomed through the halls, criss-crossing in mutiple directions, carrying Sonic with him. Sonic punched and kicked but it did little more than make the upgraded mecha fly even faster, until they crashed straight out a window, and far away from the Ark.

Metal Sonic finally slowed down, leaving the two floating in Earth's orbit. Fortunately, the combined gravity from the earth and Space Colony Ark accumulated enough oxygen for Sonic to breath.

_**"I've been waiting for this for a long time, you little furball"**_, Metal Sonic growled.

Sonic sighed."I take you didn't hear me and Egghead's disccussion about the whole predictability thing?" he inquired, commenting on his opponent's redundent declaration.

_**"It doesn't matter what I heard"**_, Metal Sonic dissmissed him,_**"Without any ground to run on, your immobilized!"**_

Metal Sonic boosted for the supposed "immobilized" hedgehog, but Sonic curled into ball-form and dashed upwards behind him.

"Again with the overused lines! What is this, an old comic book!"

* * *

Charmy dodged the lance-weilding robots with ease.

"Float like a butterfly; sting like a me! Ya can't catch me, I'm Charmy the-" the small bee was cut off as he was grabbed in mid-flight by a mech and thrown face-first against the window.

Right before Charmy could remove his smushed face from the window, he noticed a bizzare anomoly outside that perplexed the poor boy. At first, he assumed that the earth, moon, and stars behind it were somehow moving downward, but after a second or two, a more logical theory was drawn in his head:"This whole place is turning upside-down!" he said aloud.

"Oh relax, Charmy", Vector said, misenterpreting the bee,"We've been through crazier stuff than this", he reminded Charmy, delivering a swift haymaker to a robot.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then, what did youuuuwwaaa-_oof!"_was the noise Ray made as he suffered the same predicament as Charmy, being sweeped up by a mech and hurled into the window right next to Charmy. The squirrel then saw Charmy's point, the earth now sliding out of view."Hey! Charmy's right! The entire space station is turning uside-down! What're we gonna do!" he turned to Vector for console.

The crocodile crossed his arms."Well...big deal, we've still seen crazier."

Espio, heard a noise behind him and turned around, opposite of Vector."Ever run from a carnivorous horde of cyborg water-monsters?"

"Eh...no."

Espio pointed far in front of himself."Never too late to learn."

Confused once more, Vector turned to see a mob of Artificial Chaos and elite Space Colony Ark sesurity droids barreling straight toward him.

"Nnnope, definatly never done that before...**RRUUUUUUUUUNNN!**" the croc screamed, fleaing for his life along the rest of the Chaotics, with now only one thought in his and all the other's minds:_"gotta get back to the ship"._

* * *

Sonic and his metal counterpart clashed with eachother, creating a small shockwave and bouncing away. They did it again, with no less amount of force. The two looked as if they were miniature comets, bolting to

a certain point in nothingness and being knocked away by their own impact. They clashed again, and again, and again until Metal Sonic decided he had enough of the basics and fired a bolt of electricity at Sonic, who dashed out of its path, leaving him in an upside-down position. Metal Sonic chuckled at this.

_**"Hm hm hm, kind like your life so far, isn't it Sonic?"**_

The azure hedgehog was about to make another comment concerning the mecha's unoriginal dialougue, until he saw Space Colony Ark.

"What's happening to the Ark?"

_**"You mean you've notice that just now? You'd think someone like you would of picked up a moon-sized space station flipping on its top a little sooner..."**_

Sonic readjusted himself."What's Eggman doing with the Ark?" he ask more aggresively.

Metal Sonic chuckled again._**"It's over, Sonic."**_

"What?"

_**"Your adventures, your victories, your very reason to live. It's all over."**_

"You didn't answer my question. Why is Eggman flipping the Ark upside-down?"

_**"Why, so he won't suck the whole planet in with him, of course."**_

Sonic let that sink in for a moment_.'The whole planet with him'_? What does that even mean, Sonic thought. Obviously, Metal Sonic was implying the Eggman was going somewhere, but the hedgehog coundn't find it in him to ask where Eggman was going.

_**"Do I have to engrave it on a rock?"**_

* * *

Kuckles, Tails, rouge, and Omega turn at the sound of screaming, and saw the Chaotics running from a group of water creatures and robots.

"Eggman must've reactivated the Ark's security systems", Tails said.

_**"It's exactly what you've been talking about."**_

The Chaotics ran right passed them, only to stop several feet in front of another ambush. The droids and Artificial Chaos began firing.

_**"Eggman is tired of all the failing, all the losing, all the humiliation...and all the bad jokes."**_

The group did their best to defend themselves, but there were so many, and they were so strong.

_**"You have always been the only thing standing between him and the world, so he's decide to move on to a different world. A world where you won't be there to foil his him at every corner."**_

One the Chaos nailed Omega in the shoulder with its lazer eyes, effectivly disabling him.

With a roar, Knuckles, Vector, and Mighty rammed a path through the robots, the others following hastily with Tails' walker in cart-mode, towing Omega.

* * *

Eggman laughed as he prepared the Eclipse Cannon."It's time, time to end this pointless fervolity now and forever! Eclipse Cannon...FIRE!" he slammed his finger on the button that would solve all his problems.

Suddenly, Chaos shreiked in pain, crackleing with electricity, the very life being drained from his liquid body.

The Chaos Emeralds donned a similar reaction, glowing so bright that the grinning Eggman had to sheild his eyes.

* * *

The group finally made it ti the docking bay, their ship facing outside and ready for a quick escape.

"Now do you see why I always park backwards?" Tails said to Knuckles, smiling triumphantly.

The echinda looked the other direction."It won't help at all if we're not _inside _of it!" he reminded the young fox angrily.

Another door on the far left exploded open. Shadow skidded to a halt while Silver blocked the doorway with a telekenetic forcefield.

"What did you do!" Shadow yelled furiously, stomping toward Tails.

"I didn't do this", Tails explained,"Eggman reactivated the security systems somehow. We gotta leave now!"

"No way! I'm not leaving the Ark!"

"Guys, I'm realy not up for doin' this twice!" Silver reminded, struggling to keep the robots in the halls.

"We don't have a choice!" Knuckles shouted, him and Mighty grabbing the hedgehog by his arms and shoulders.

Shadow refused to move."No! I'm not leaving Maria!" he screamed spontaneously, his eyes filled with rage and angst.

"Is that what he calls this place?" Vector murmured to Espio, who shrugged.

Silver moaned as the Artificial Chaos began seeping through the opening in his dissapating forcefield. With a frustrated _Gyah!_, Silver pulsed a wave of energy at Shadow, knocking him, Mighty, and Knuckles next to the ship, where they heeved the distraught Shadow into the ship along with the rest of the group.

"Hang on to your hats!" Tails announed to the occupants as he started the engine.

"But, I don't have a hat!" Ray cried, franticly searching for a hat.

"Here ya go", said Knuckles as he handed the squirrel his stetson.

Ray sighed with relief, trying the stetson on."It fits! Oh, thank goodness!"

Some of the more pesimistic members rolled their eyes.

As the ship ascended, Silver flew in before in took off into space.

* * *

Sonic watched as the Eclipse Cannon hummed to life, glowing a bright blue. Electrical currents ran down the magnificent weapon as it charged up to fire. And then...

_***BWOOOOOMMM***_

The cannon went off, unleashing an unspeakable amount of energy in the direction of seemingly nowhere. Then, to Sonic's surprise. the ray of energy began to slow down and condense, expanding as more and more energy esimilated into it until, to the hedgehog's horror, reformed into a massive vortex of pure Chaos energy big enough to devour the moon.

_**"You see now, Sonic?"**_ Metal Sonic resumed,_**"Eggman isn't simply migrating to another planet or sector, but an entirely different universe! Thus leaving the two of us to finish what started long ago"**_, he scratched his forehead,_**"Then again, when the space station itself gets pulled into the wormhole, there will be no atmosphere to keep a steady supply of oxygen for you to breath. I guess that means I'll win by default..."**_ the mecha chuckled at the image of his organic rival popping like a bubble in the vacuum of space.

Sonic growled, but chuckled."Ya know, if you had a mouth, it'd be bigger than Eggman's!" he shouted, dashing right passed Metal Sonic, and straight for the Ark.

The hulking metal hedgehog turn around._**"If you had a brain, you would of remembered that I'm faster than you!"**_

"That's funny, I have a brain but I don't seem to remember that!"

Metal Sonic roared in anger and boosted off after Sonic.

* * *

"Now repolerizing inter-dimensional magnetizers to positive!" Eggman announced to no one in peticular as he fiddle with the the computer terminal.

* * *

Suddenly, the vortex attained a powerful gravitational pull, sucking in all of the enormous battleships, and, at a more gradual rate, Space Colony Ark.

"Ugh, I know this is always a jinx", Mighty started,"but why are we moving backwards?"

Curious as well, Tails turned on the rear-view monitor, revealing to them all of the gigantic wormhole.

The Chaotics glared at Mighty, who rubbed the back of his head."I had to know."

The gravity bacame stronger as the ship neared the portal.

"Looks like I'm gonna miss dinner tonight..." Rouge grimaced, for she still had some left-over cheese strata in the fridge.

The ship started shaking.

"...or every other night for that matter!" Knuckles finished.

* * *

Sonic neared the space station, with Metal Sonic in close persuit, until suddenly, Sonic felt a mysterious force tugging him faster. The azure hedgehog realized that it wasn't the Ark's gravity that was pulling him, but the gravity of the colossal vortex right behind the Ark.

Sonic's heart skipped a beat; this just wasn't his day."Ooohhh milkshakes", the hedgehog squeaked before he, his friends, Metal Sonic, and even Space Colony Ark disapeared into the vortex, which vanished itself.

If one were to look at the stars at the right angle and time. one would see absolutely nothing.

* * *

They were all now in hyperspace, billions of colors streaking passed them like machine gun fire.

"Okay! I admit it! This is crazy! This is _reeeeaaaly_ crazy!" Vector shouted, trying his best keep his balance in the rocking ship.

"This is it!" cried Ray,"We're all dead! Snuffed out! Washed up! Bought the barn! I NEVER EVEN GOT TO SEE THE CALIFORNIA REDWOODS!"

"All be _danged_ if I have to die seeing that fat man fly away with _my _Ark!" Shadow roared.

"I think that's the point, Shadow", Amy responded.

Suddenly, a strange knocking was heard on the roof of the ship, similar to how someone would knock on a , Knuckles slid open the door of the ship and lookup to see Sonic hanging for dear life on one of the vents. He waved casualy.

"You just have to milk as much fun as possible out o' this, don't you!" the echidna inquiried, raising his voice to an audible level.

The hedgehog shrugged."I saved some for you, didn't I!"

"Just shut up and take my hand!" Knuckles said, reaching hand out for Sonic.

Omega reactivatinged."WARNING: ENEMY: NEO METAL SONIC APPROACHING."

Just before Sonic could take his friend's hand, a large metallic one gripped around Sonic's legs.

_**"Funny! I remember a similar predicament you were in like this! STRAAAANGE, isn't it!"**_ Metal Sonic related before balling his free hand into a fist and bringing it down on the side of Sonic's head, smushing the hedgehog's face against the ship and causing him to let go.

"NOOO!" Knuckles cried as his best friend and worst enemy both faded out of sight.

The ship rocked sideways, causing Knuckles to fall back in.

"Where's Sonic! What happened to Sonic!" Amy screamed, her eyes filled with tears.

Another pulse, this time the Ark and all the battle ships around it were gone.

"The same thing that's about to happen to us!" Tails shouted as the ship rattled violenty.

They all screamed, feeling the strain of their very molecules endeavoring to keep themselves stable.

_***FLASH***_

* * *

It was a cold, dark evening. The stars were out, and a middle-aged man was looking at them out the window via telescope.

The middle-aged man's equaly middle-aged wife walked in through the doorway." Are you still messing around with that thing?" she asked abruptly.

"Not now", the man said quickly.

"You've been looking into that old trinket for fifteen years, and you still haven't found anything the world doesn't already know about. Fifteen years! Think of all the home improvement you could've put into all those years! But no, you chose to waste it all looking up a metal tube. I tell you..."

The man tried to ignore his wife's endless nagging as best he could. He knew he was going to find something one day that would blow everybody's mind, including his wife's. And he was right, for tonight was his lucky night: he had just happened to be looking at the right angle at the right time...

"I found something!"

"...and another thing-what?"

"I said I found something. And no, it's not the Moon this time."

The woman zipped to her husbend's side, pushing her face against his. Both eyes (attemted to) look through the telescope to see what appeared to be an enormous stone-like object faze into reality. The couple coudn't believe what they saw.

"Th-this is amazing!" the woman was too stunned to even speak correctly,"W-we have to tell someone! Tell the police! tell the scientist! Tell the astronomers!"

"No!" the man stopped her. They both looked at eachother,"Tell the Firelord."

The couple closed the window, and prepared to take this news straight to the palace.

* * *

**Well, that's the prologue. I literaly spent a whole year working it on and off so I hope you enjoyed it 'cause there's more to come**

**Sonic: Eh, coulda' been better**

**I wasn't talking to you.**

**Sonic: Oh realy? I'm the only here, so you **_**must**_** be talkin' to me**

**You're not even technicaly here!**

**Sonic:...chutup'**

**Please Review! **


	2. The Meteor

**Welcome back, fellow readers. It's nice to know this fanfic wasn't completely overlooked.**

**Sonic:"nice to know"? More like a miracle...**

**Yeah. Anyway, I think for the first **_**real **_**chapter of this story, I'm going to start off with a more Avatary' beginning in order to keep the original flow of the show going.**

**Sonic: Oh, that's a relief. I thought you were just gonna make a random sequence of flash-backs that no one will understand unless they actually watched the series finale...**

**That's pretty much what an Avatar beginning is.**

**Sonic:...oh**

**...**

**Sonic:...**

**...**

**Sonic:...welp', better leave you to it, then...**

**...**

**Sonic:*slowly walks out of the room***

**...*ahem*...on with the story...**

* * *

_**Previously, on Avatar...**_

_"No... I'm not gonna end it like this", Aang stated firmly, facing opposite of his opponent._

_Phoenix King Ozai pushed himself up."Even with all the power in the world, you are still weak." he lunged to attack._

_*FLASH*_

_The pillar of blue light brightened the sky, then dimmed._

_"What...what did you do to me?" Ozai asked, confused._

_The Avatar regained his posture."I took away your firebending. You can't use it to hurt or threaten anyone else ever again."_

_*FLASH*_

_"I can't beleive a year ago my purpose in life was hunting you down," Zuko lamented," and now..."_

_"And now, we're friends," Aang finished. _

_"Yeah...We are friends..." the prince agreed._

_"I can't believe a year ago, I was frozen in a block of ice," he stood up, facing his new ally,"the world is so different now..."_

_Zuko placed a reassuring hand on the Avatar's shoulder"And it's gonna be even more different. We'll rebuild it together."_

*FLASH*

_The three nations raised their flags, and cheerd for the new firelord._

_Zuko raise one hand."Please. The real hero...is the Avatar." he gestured to the young air nomad behind him._

_The crowd cheered louder at the site of the Avatar._

_*FLASH*_

_"I promised my uncle that I would restore the honor of the ire Nation, and I will," Zuko began,"The road ahead of us is challenging. One hundred years of war has left the world scarred and divided. But with the Avatar's help, we can get back on the right path, and begin a new era...of love and peace."_

_Zuko knelt down; the Fire Sage raised the royal headpiece for all to see."All hail Fire Lord..." he placed the piece in the monarch's topknot,"...Zuko!"_

_*FLASH*_

_Thay were all back in Ba Sing Se at the Jasmine Dragon, with Iroh playing the sungi horn and Zuko serving tea to the rest of them._

_*FLASH*_

_Aang and Katara stood on the balcony, enjoying the view. They hugged, looked deeply into eachother's eyes, then kissed._

_*FLASH*_

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter One:**

**The Meteor **

The stars and heavens hung all around them. The earth's horizon lay beneath them.

The two Avatars in astral-form sat cross-legged facing eachother on seemingly nothing. Avatar Aang was briefly recaping to his predicessor, Avatar Roku, a summary of recent events, with Roku depending upon his years of experience pertaining to quick and decisive actions to mentally keep up with his successor's endless jabber, responding with a suddle _mhm _or_ and? _between the boy's pauses to let him know he was still awake_."...and then Zuko left to go to the bathroom...and then me and Sokka snuck into the royal supply room...and took some of the special powder...and then we snuck back into the throne room...then we lined the powder around the throne...then I used firebending to light up the powder just before Zuko could walk back through the doors...you should've seen the look on his face when the whole room glowed pink!...then we both bowed down and chanted 'All hail Fire Lady Zuka!' "_, the two Avatars laughed joyfully.

_"__How splended!__"_ the old Avatar applauded,_"__Such an eventful Autumn it's been for you! It brings so much joy to my heart to see my past friendship with the firelord reborn.__"_

_"Yeah...heh...can't wait for it to end...er-Autumn, I mean"_, the new Avatar mumbled a little more to himself.

Roku looked puzzled,_"__What do you mean?__"_

Aang stayed quiet.

Roku read his saddened expression._" __Ah, I see__"_, he began,_"__Autumn is the season of Air__" _he said aloud_._

The young Avatar blinked his tears away._"It's just...I'm the only person who truly knows what I'm going through: I'm the only one left on Earth who can bend air, who's seen and experienced first hand their peaceful, nomadic culture; I'm the only one who knows how to resew a torn air staff, how to train a flying lemur to fetch your marbles when you lose them, how tell the difference between a stratus cloud and a cirrus cloud, how to make musrooms go good with kiwi. And combined with being the Avatar? I mean, how am I supposed to sleep at night knowing when I'm gone, there will be no other trace of evidence that airbenders even existed?"_ the young Air Nomad could hold back his tears no longer.

_"__I understand__"_, the old Fire Nation noble tried to comfort him,_"__but by now you must realize there are plenty of individuals like you who have a mutual perspective of your condition. You're speaking to one of them right now__"_, he said with a smile.

_"But, you're Fire Nation"_, Aang reminded him.

_"__Yes, but I am also Earth Kingdom. And Water Tribe as well. You forget that I, like you, have embraced the cultures and customs of all of the four nations, each becoming just as much a part of who I am as the other three. So when I witnessed from the afterlife the destruction of the Air Nomads, I was very sad, as were the Avatars before me. I, however, was futher saddened, for it was the second genocide that I myself had witnessed.__"_

_"'Second genocide'?"_ Aang repeated.

_"__The moment Firelord Sozin refused to help me up during the volcano eruption, and flew away on his dragon, I realized that I too was the last of my kind. The Fire Nation that I was born in had withered away, and in it's place, a new nation arose. A nation that corrupted the true meaning of honor and firebending, and sought for nothing less than to be the most powerful and feared of the three remaining factions.__"_

The new Avatar suddenly felt less self-centered._"Wow...I never thought of it like that"_, he said, with a deeper sense of respect for his predicessor.

_"__But, that is in the past now__"_, Roku lamented, brightening up,_"__For just as the people of the Fire Nation are doing everything to restore their country's honor, you may one day find yourself surrounded by eager, young airbenders, seeking to learn their ancestor's traditions from the only one who can teach them.__"_

The succeeding Avatar was successfully cheered up._"Huh...I guess I'm not so alone after all..."_

_"__You aren't. Although, I was never particularly good with mushroom and kiwi pie...__"_

They laughed some more. They stopped, however, as they noticed the space around them seem to vibrate.

_"What's happening?"_, Aang asked, hoping for an answer from the previous Avatar.

_"__I'm not sure__"_, he answered,_"__Energy is being pushed aside, as if to make room...__"_

_"Room? For what?"_

The two Avatars were engulfed in a flash of white, a large round silhouette taking shape opposite of the earth. The white vanished, revealing a massive stone object with an enormous point sticking out the front of it.

_"What is it?" _Aang asked, still thinking Roku might know.

_"__I have no idea. It appears to be a vessel of some sort.__"_

_"Well, we are in astral form. Maybe we could just faze inside and see what it is?" _the young airbender suggested.

Roku shook his head._"__That would not be wise. It is completly new to the universe. We have no choice but to assume the worst. Aang, you must return to your body so that you may resume your duties. Prepare for anything, for whatever this entity is, it may very well be here to upsurp the balance of the world, or even balance itself.__"_

Avatar Roku disappeared, leaving Aang alone in space.

Aang held out his hand._"Wait, Roku! Don't go! I don't know what to prepare for. How would I even get to it before something happens? Roku!"_

An ominous blue light caught Aang's attention. He turned towards the stone object to see a blue, glowing orb barreling straight for him.

_"Aaaaaaaagghh!"_

* * *

"Aang! Aang, wake up!" Katara tried, rocking back and forth the sleeping Avatar.

With a scream, the awakened Aang forced a blast of air upwards, blowing a hole through the roof.

Realizing that he was no longer in the Spirit World, Aang looked up at Katara, Toph, and Sokka and their new "hairdoos", a side effect of his impulsive move.

"Sheesh", Toph remarked,"Don't take it out on the ceilling just because you had a bad dream."

Aang sat up."It wasn't a bad dream", he said,"it was a vision. I was talking to Roku, and there was this big flash, and then this giant, round, pointy thing came out of nowhere. Then Roku was gone, and then a meteor..."

"Woah, calm down. Wait, how can something be round _and_ pointy? That dosen't make any sense", Sokka wondered out loud.

Aang caught his bearings."Um...nevermind, it was probably just a bad dream", his said shrugging.

"Nice to know that problem was solved fast", Sokka said, giving his little airbending buddy a pat on the shoulder,"Now hurry up and get dressed, we're gonna be late!"

"Just a second. I'll be ready...", the young nomad affirmed, putting his pants on

To forward international harmony, the Avatar, Fire Lord, and their friends have motioned a _World Peace Tour_, visiting several towns and villages across the world to promote peace and love among the three nations. Also participating in the tour were Sokka, Katara, Bato, and Cheif Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe; Cheif Arnook of the Northern Water Tribe; Suki of Kyoshi Island; Lao, Poppy, and Toph Bei Fong of Gaoling; and Mai and Tylee of the Fire Nation (for unknown reasons, Mai and Tylee have decided to participate without their parents or siblings).

Right now, the group were at Makapu Village, the last destination on the list. For the occasion, a large festival has been arranged to commemorate the young men and women (and lemurs) who fought to end The War.

In another room, Fire Lord Zuko was teatering back and forth on wether he should or shouldn't attend the festival while wearing his royal headpiece."...but if I wear it, people might be wigged out when they see me...but they really shouldn't because The War's over...but I don't wanna make people think it's not over...but how will everyone know the I'm Fire Lord?...but I don't wanna over display my royal heritige...but I should be able to wear it if I want...but I should learn to compromise so I don't seem so obtuse about it...but there are also two sides to compromise in which-" right in the middle of the young monarch's dilema, Mai silently plucked the headpiece out of his hand and tossed it out the window.

Zuko appeared surprised at his girlfriend's lack of respect for his heritige, but shrugged."Normal Zuko it is."

* * *

Outside the inn, Suki, in her formal Kyoshi Warrior armor, was leaning her back against the wall, her arms crossed, right when her boyfriend popped out the entrance to her left.

"So, is Aang alright?" she asked.

"He's fine, just napping", Sokka confirmed,"Ooh, I just can't wait for Aang's speech! It's gonna be so awsome! I wish the Moon would go faster!" he eagerly cried, attempting to will the Moon to increase it's usual rate of travel with his eyes.

Suki figured the young Water Tribe warrior would be elated this particular evening, but she may have underestimated the amount of energy with which he would use to display it.

When the Moon was to reach the center of the night sky, the villagers attending the festival were to be directed to a special stage, where the Avatar was schedueled to give a long speech about peace, a speech pain-stakenly pre-written by Sokka himself.

"This entire village is going to hear what _I _wrote! What _I_ wrote!" he excitedly repeated to himself.

"Yeah, and afterwards, I hear there's going to be a special suprise", Suki announced, in an attempt to change the subject.

"What kinda' suprise?" Sokka asked, before silently chanting _"What I wrote" _to himself one more time.

"Well, it turns out that Makapu Village is home to a famous fortune teller named Aunt Wu", Sokka's ears perked up at the familar name,"I heard from one of the stage builders that she's going to give a surprise prediction after Aang's peace speech!" Sokka's jaw hung low at her news.

"No, NO! Why does _she_ have to be there!" he whaled, almost teary-eyed.

Suki caught this."Wait, you mean you've actually met Aunt Wu before?"

"Yes, I have!" Sokka ranted,"We stopped here once for supplies just in time for her to 'predict' to the whole village that the volcano wouldn't erupt, and it did! If it wasn't for Aang, the village would of been destroyed!" he explained.

"Technicaly, she said the volcano wouldn't destroy the village, which it didn't", Suki replied, raising a finger.

"Who told you that!" Sokka demanded.

She shrugged."Some old guy with a blue hat."

Sokka's eyelids lowered. At least he was hearing it from his girlfriend and not the man himself.

"Do you have something against fortune tellers?" Suki inquired.

"Who me? of course not", Sokka responded calmly,"Except for the fact that THEY DON'T EXIST! You can't see into the future, it's impossible."

"I don't know, Sokka. These people don't seem to have any doubts about her. Maybe it's something spiritual?" Suki proposed.

"Please", Sokka critisized,"Aang didn't feel anything strange about her, and he's supposed to the bridge to the Spirit _World_."

"Well, maybe she's just so smart she that actually _remembers_ future events", the Kyoshi Warrior tried again.

"You can't just remember things that haven't happened yet. Memories don't work that way", the Water Tribe Warrior persisted.

Katara poked her head out of the entrance."Sokka, you aren't still trying to convince people that Aunt Wu is fake, are you?" she inquired.

Sokka raised a hand to his little sister."Not now, Katara. My point is that time isn't something you bend like water or earth, it's a...you know...a concept."

Suki finally gave up."Alright, Sokka, whatever you say..."

"Good", Sokka relented,"Now, I hope Aang's ready, Katara, because we're running out of time as it is. It's going to be an hour and a half to midnight soon and I don't want him to be late for his speech."

"I thought time was just a concept", the young waterbender retorted, causing her brother to deadpan.

"She has a point, Sokka. You can't really run out of a concept", Aang added, peeping out of the doorway as well.

"I'll take that as a _yes_", Sokka grumbled.

* * *

The tour members were riding to the festival in their own carrages, each carriage towed by their nations home riding animal. The children rode in Zuko's carrage (pulled by komodo rhinos with dulled horns), save for Toph, who was forced to reside with her parents (in a carriage pulled by ostrich horses).

"Are you sure you memorized the speech?" Sokka asked the young Avatar.

"Yes", Aang confirmed.

"Double-memorized it?"

"Yes."

"What about while eating breakfest?"

"Yes."

"In the bathroom?"

"Yes."

"Eyes squinted?"

"Yes."

"Upsidedown?"

"Will you relax, Sokka?" Katara chimed in,"Even if Aang might not be able to completely recite every single word of your speech on the spot, he can still just put the paper on the podium when he does say it. Besides, can't you see he's thinking about something different?"

"What could he possibly be thinking about on one of the most important nights of his life!"

"About my vision", Aang anwsered him.

"Vision?" Sokka repeated,"I thought you said you were just having a nightmare!"

Aang looked away."I kind of just said that to make you guys feel better."

"So that's why you look so upset", Zuko calculated. The young Air Nomad did appear very disturbed, constantly looking down, not speaking. It made sense to the scarred monarch that he had a revelation of some kind."So what was the vision about? Did it have anything to do with my father?"

"Not at all, actually", Aang began,"I was telling Roku about the past couple of months, when this giant stone thing materialized before our eyes. It was really scary because not even Roku knew what it was. Then he told me to return to my body in case it was something bad, and then he vanished. And then, I saw a meteor come straight at me, or at least it looked like a meteor. That was when I woke up..."

"...and blew a hole through the roof", Sokka finished insensitively.

A breif glare at Sokka.

"What do you think it all means?" Katara asked.

"I don't really know. That stone thing could've been the meteor. What if it's coming for us right now? How would I stop something like that?" Aang asked himself.

"All this stuff about spirits and visions. Honestly, I actually feel like going to help Tylee with her hair than listen to more of this", Mai sighed.

"You get used to it", Sokka told her.

* * *

The tour members stepped out of the carriages and set their eyes toward the festival, which, frankly, was quite impressive for a temporary fair assembled overnight. The fair retained many festivities and attractions from across the nations. Their were all kinds of food stands serving treats of near endless variety. It contained many games for the youth, such as _Dunk the Fire Lord_, _Hama's Haunted Inn_, and a variation of _Airball_. The location even boasted a small circus, with _Tylee's Amazing-Flaming-Net-Animal-Stampede-Tight-Rope-Hand-Walk _as the main event.

"Wow, this place is amazing!" marveled Katara as the gang made their way through the festival, noting the attractions,"I wonder where we should start first?"

"Well, you guys could go play those games'n stuff while me and Aang reherse the speech a few more times", Said Sokka, carrying the scroll containing Aang's World Peace speech in his left hand.

"Um...what was that, Sokka! I can't hear you over the music!" Aang yelled, holding his hand up to his ear.

"What? I can hear you just fine. There's no music-"

"I think it's coming from over there!" Aang fibbed, pointing a random direction,"I'll go check!" he cried, riding off on an air scooter.

"Aang, wait!...speech!...World Peace!...Moon!" the warrior stuttered.

"Will you calm down, Sokka?" Suki asked,"The Moon isn't even half way there to the sky's center. There's more than enough time for some festival fun, and _then _the speech. Okay?" Suki explained, comforting Sokka.

The young warrior observed a game or two."I guess the speech can wait..."

"That's the sprit, Sokka!" Zuko beamed, lay his hand on Sokka's shoulder,"Now who's up for a round of _Dunk the Fire Lord?_"

"Yeah! Let's dunk Zuko! I mean-er-Ozai..." Sokka corrected himself, smiling sheepishly at the current fire lord.

The monarch shrugged."I understand. It's kind of my fault."

* * *

After brief montage of festival fun, the Moon had finally reached it's center in the night sky, and signs were being placed around the area.

"Please follow the directing signs to the designated location where the Avatar will give his _Lecture on World Peace_!" some people announced using metal funnels to amplify there voices, pointing to the signs.

Before long, a crowd gathered before a large stage draped in white, with the insignias of the three nations on each side-signifying world unity-and chairs on each side on the stage.

The spotlight shined on a man in a white robe walking out between the enormous white curtains and to the podium in the center front holding a metal funnel.

"Greetings, fellow villagers, and welcome to _The First Annual World Unity Festival_! Generously funded of course by the Bei Fong family", the man said, holding the funnel up to his mouth,"Some of you aren't fully convinced that The War is truly over, that this simple fair is merely a premenition to a horrific catastrophe comparable to the destruction of the Air Nomads. You demand proof that you can sleep well tonight without your entire house set ablaze! Well here, ladies and gentlemen, _is _that proof!" he motioned behind him.

The crowd lit up with thunderous applause as the Fire Lord (who left to retreave his headpiece at the last minute) and Water Tribe cheifs, their friends and family, and the Avatar entered the stage and took their seats.

"Ooh, Toph! Lift your feet off of the floor. The wood might splinter your bare feet", nitpicked Lao to his daughter, Poppy nodding in agreement.

"_Yes, Father_", Toph grumbled, pulling her feet up under her seat which, of course, was on the opposite side of the stage where her friends sat.

"Why are we doing this again?" murmured Bato to Hakoda.

"Just keep smiling, future generations will remember what we did to preserve peace in this world", the Southern Water Cheif explained beneath his false grin.

"As you can see", the man continued," some of the world's most important faces are here tonight, former enemies literaly sitting beside eachother to confirm that your houses will, in fact, not be set on on fire...at least not intentionaly. But of course you already knew that, for otherwise you would not have come here to listen to the words of your savior himself. So, without any futher distraction, and with monumentous humility, I hand over this funnel to Avata-" before the announcer could finish, the young Avatar zipped to his left and began wispering in the man's ear.

"What?...Who?...Are you sure?" the announcer mumbled stupidly into the funnel,"Avatar Aang has just told me that talking about himself and all the amazing things he did throughout his travels would not show much humility of him, so he has decided...er, not to give his speech."

"WHAT!" Sokka shreiked, almost feeling like ripping his ponytail off.

"_Aww..._" moaned the crowd in unison as they turned to leave.

"Instead", the annoucer began, causing the crowd to stop in mid-turn and look back at him curiously,"the Avatar has decided that the superior alternative would be a testimony from one his closest friends. So, fellow villagers, I re-present to you, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Sokka?" Katara repeated,"You picked _Sokka _to tell people about his experiences in The War? You do know Sokka's Sokka, right?" she inquired, motioning to her clearly offended brother.

"Of course I know" Aang said, returning to his seat,"Sokka was the one who wrote my speech in the first place. He should know it by heart!"

"But I can't say it!" Sokka explained,"It was meant specificly for _you_ and only _you _to recite it publicly! It was supposed to be from your exact perspective of The War! If I say it, it'll just sound really weird and won't make any sense!"

"It couldn't make any less sense than the speech itself", Bato joked, being one of the Avatar's practice audience.

"For your information, Bato, my son happens to be a very gifted and tactical individual", Hakoda said sternly, before taking a moment to glance at the "tactition's" dopy grin,"...I'm sure he'll be able to...improvise...or something..."

Several claps and _whoot'_s sounded throughout the crowd as the young swordsmen walked to the podium. The announcer handed Sokka the funnel and walked back through the curtians.

Whatever voice Sokka had descended into his gut as he realized all eyes were on him, including his father and girlfriend.

He made an unusually audible _ahem_ into the funnel, signifying that he was about to speak.

The audience silently awaited his voice. Aang was now wondering if his decision still retained any wisdom.

"War!" Sokka finally blurted out,"It's a...very...bad thing..." the crowd remained silent. Sokka ran that back through his mind."Of course you guys already...knew that since...well, ya know, I mean, why else would we all be here for, right? Goin' from town to town...spreadin' peace...and harmony and..." Hakoda rubbed the bridge between his eyes,"Well, what I mean is...as a person who's...experienced the art of war first hand...I've managed to...um...pick up certain...characteristics of a warzone..."

"What kind of characteristics, Sokka!" Suki yelled, attemting help the Water Tribe warrior better formulate his sentences.

"Well, I'm glad you asked, _Suki_..." Sokka growled through gritted teeth,"During my-er-_our_ travels-that makes me and my friends- I have observed that the general battle tends to be very...loud, and...disorganized and...usually lasts a really long time which, I guess, except for the Day of Black Sun...we got our butts kicked in under an hour..." he trailed off, gaining a few glares from veterans in the crowd,"...If you were to lose your hat in the middle of a battle you'd...probably never find it again...but, nobody has to worry about that kinda' stuff anymore..."

"_Why not_?" inquired a random person in the audience.

Sokka was caught off guard."...Oh, well, because...because...The War's over!"

The audience boomed, giving the Water Tribe warrior the motivation he needed to find his voice again."Yep, The War's definately over with. And, you don't have to worry about the new Fire Lord, either. He's a pretty swell guy. Course', he wasn't so swell a year ago, with all the capturing and the pillaging and the burning stuff to the ground..." he recalled, causing the crowd's cheers to dim and a chill to crawl up Zuko's back."He was kind of an angry jerk, too. He went where he wanted, took what he wanted, ya know, as Fire Nation as you can get.." he stopped, remembering who he was talking to and what for."...Although, there was all that stuff about Zuko being banished and fleeing away to Ba Sing Se with his uncle. They even created there own tea shop together", the audience and Zuko tensed down slightly,"Well I guess that's not totally true..." everyone tensed bach up,"He did turn on us at the last minute and teamed back up with Azula to conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Fire Nation. It was funny, too, because the entire world thought Zuko actually _killed_ the Avatar. Can you believe it? Well, of you can believe it because...you believed it!"

Bato had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing while Hakoda had to cover his face to keep from crying. Katara threw Aang a now-look-what-you-did type glare, the young Avatar countered with a how-was-I-supposed-to-know-this-was-gonna-happen type shrug.

"Er...anyway, after a few more months of bein' his old self, he switched sides at the last minute and we've been buddies ever since. I can assure you, Fire Lord Zuko isn't the kind of guy who would wanna restart The War; I'm not even sure how he would be able to do that since Sozin's Comet won't be back for another hundred years. Of course, it could be plausible, given the scenario that Zuko out-lives us all by twenty or thirty years just long enough to use the comet's power to begin another campaign to conquer the-"

Before anonther syllable could be uttered from the bableing Water Tribe warrior's lips, Fire Lord Zuko hastily snatched the funnel from Sokka's hand and covered his mouth."_WHAT _my friend here is trying to tell you kind village people, is that I would never be conceited enough as to do what Fire Lord Sozin did. One hundred years ago, all the Fire Nation desired was to be better; and one decade ago, all the Fire Nation desired was to be better than everybody else. I know of the horrific attrocities the Sozin Regime has brought upon you. We've layed waist to your homes, and took away your only means of escape, all for what we thought was glory. Even Fire Lord Ozai, my own father, scarred and exiled me for merely speaking out in his presence, but things are different now. I know that fire is a desrtuctive element, and if we are to regain our honor, we must learn to produce, and give back. And I say now", he paused," that if I do live to be a hundred and sixteen, and make the same mistake my forefathers made, the next Avatar in the cycle can do whatever he or she wants with me!"

The audience exploded with cheers for the new Fire Lord. Zuko handed the funnel back to Sokka, now feeling shorter, and returned to his seat.

"Pretty smooth, Zuko," Mai complimented,"you sounded just like your uncle."

The Fire Lord absorbed her opinion."I did, didn't I?" he smiled. Of course, he was merely quoting a backup speech pre-written by Iroh himself incase the Avatar's speech backfired.

"Ugh...yeah...that's exactly what I was trying to tell you with all the...yeah" Sokka handed the funnel back to the announcer, and gloomly walked back to his seat between his father and sister.

"Well, I don't know about you, fellow villagers", the announcer began,"but I thought that was an unforgetable declamation from the Fire Lord...and, the other guy...Now, I am well aware that the Moon has left its epicenter in the sky, but I'm sure are willing to spare one more moment of your time for a special surprise prediction from Makapu Villages own: Aunt Wu", he announced.

Another set of applause rang as the old fortune teller (and apparently Sokka's arch nemesis) revealed herself from the curtains and calmly made her way to the podium.

"Aunt Wu! I almost forgot this part! Oh, I hope it's nothing bad..." Katara pondered somewhat fanaticly.

"It's never anything bad", Mai stated bluntly,"That's the trick."

"_Thank you_", Sokka grumbled, satisfied that at least someone shares his general skeptical view.

Aunt Wu laid her cloud chart onto the podium, and observed the night clouds carefully."Be weary of heavy rainfall during the following week; all those burnt crops should heal _very _soon."

Some old farmers in the crowd cheered at this news.

Aunt Wu looked up at the clouds again, and back at her chart. She smiled."Ah, a sudden heatwave shall occur in the West; perfect for some beach-time recreation at Ember Island."

"Well, I know where _I'm _going..." Katara sang.

Sokka drooped even lower into his seat.

"And finally..." Aunt Wu paused, looking into the clouds a third and final time.

The crowd was in complete suspense.

"Please don't be anything about space...please don't be anything about space..." Aang chanted nervously to himself.

"You know she's just gonna say the volcano won't erupt..." Mai explained pestimisticly.

Aunt Wu threw her wrinkled hands in the air."Mount Makapu will not erupt for another three years!"

The crowd boomed at her announcement.

"Wow, Mai, can you see the future too?" Tylee inquired, amazed by her friend's "new-found powers".

Mai responded with a characteristic sigh.

Upon a quick glance toward the sky, an odd sight caught Suki's notice."Um, Aunt Wu, do the clouds say anything about meteors?" She called, gaining both the fortune teller's and Avatar's attention.

Aunt Wu turned to her."A meteor?" The fortune teller questioned, looking back up at the sky to search for a bunny-shaped cloud, which of course meant certain doom. She saw no such cloud. What she did see, however, was an ominous blue light shining from behind a large cumulus.

Aang's heart skipped a beat."...no...not here..."

The cloud burst open as a meteor fell out the heavens and into view.

The surrounding people started to panic, prompting Katara to rush to the podium and grab the funnel from Aunt Wu's hand."Relax, everybody, there's no reason to freak out. If something really bad was going to happen, Aunt Wu certainly would have predicted it and called for an evacuation", Katara explained to them, gesturing to Aunt Wu, which only succeded in making the fortune teller even more nervous since she had not forseen anything like this before hand."The meteor will probably land safely somewhere behind Mount Makapu."

Unfortunately, the meteor was not going to land behind Mount Makapu; in fact, a quick obervation at it's trajectory would reveal that the falling object was heading straight _for _Mount Makapu.

The meteor (now officially a meteorite) slammed into the mouth of the dormant volcano, followed by a resonating _boom_ and then silence...

After an incredibly long seven seconds, Poppy sigh with great relief."Whew...Well, that could've far worse, now couldn't it?" she mused.

In steep contrast, Toph's eyes widened."Wait for it..." Toph's declaration bewildered her parents, until a rumbling of the ground could be heard and felt throughout the surronding area.

And then, to everyone's horror, the quiescent Mount Makapu was no longer quiescent.

The volcano erupted, spewing tons of magma and flaming boulders in every direction. Villagers fled eveywhere, hoping they would not be crushed under a heated rock.

A flaming rock was hurdleing right for the petrafied crowd. Aang sped across the stage and air-lept high up, kicking a blast of air, simultaniously cooling it off and neutralizing its momentum.

The young Avatar and boulder touch down onto the empty space that was once filled with a cheering crowd. He took out his bison whistle and blew. Appa bellowed onto the scene just in time to smack an incoming boulder out of harm's way with his tail. The bison landed on the right of his master.

"Zuko! Katara! Toph! Hurry Up!" Aang called for his friends, who hastily complied, climbing up Appa.

"Yip-yip!" He commanded as he whipped the reins, causing the bison to dash for the sky and toward the raging volcano.

"...Um, okay, what are we supposed to do, watch the monkey?" Mai inquired.

Unsuprisingly, said bat lemur's chirp could be heard as Momo perch onto Sokka's shoulder.

Sokka greeted the lemur by scratching his ear, though not facing him."As I said: you get used to it."

* * *

Appa landed at the base of the volcano. Aang and Toph jumped off and pushed their hands opposite of eachother, forming a deep trench between them and the volcano, detouring the lava. Aang air-jumped far over the trench as Toph prepared a rock wall to increase the volume of the trench. Aang swung his fist upwards in mid-air, causing a stalagmite to pierce through the lava, creating a spot for him to land. The young Avatar jerked his fist to the left, forming an earth wall down the left of the volcano to further detour the lava from the village.

Before the airbender could sigh with relief, Mount Makapu exploded a second time, launching another hail of flaming boulders all over the defenseless village. Katara and Zuko took to the sky on Appa. Zuko blasted away every boulder within his range with his firebending; Katara matched the Fire Lord, gathering water particals from the air and flinging them at all the boulders on her side of the constantly swaying Appa.

Zuko turned to look at his firebending pupil for just a moment."Aang, look out!"

The Avatar could have sworn he heard his firebending teacher call for him; then again, he could have also sworn he heard a sudden _woosh _above him. Aang jumped away right before a boulder smashed into the stalagmite he was standing on. He quickly created a slab of rock out of the volcano that he could safely land on, which he did, a little harder than he had hoped.

"AANG!" Katara cried out to him. She pulled the reigns in the Avatar's direction, commanding Appa to fly to the airbender.

Zuko took hold of the reigns as the waterbender jumped off Appa and on to the artificial ledge where the young Avatar lay motionless.

"Aang, com'on, get up!" Katara cried, rocking the unconscious boy violently,"Please, you can't go like this, your too precious to me! Please!" she screamed, but he simply would not move.

'_How could this happen?_' Katara thought. He was the Avatar, he practicly had the planet itself under his will, but this is how he dies? Falling on his face while trying to subdue a volcano?

The Water Tribe girl's mind flashed back to last winter, the first time she ever saw those quiet, grey eyes, and all the hilarious adventures they shared together. Her mind skipped over to spring, deep in the caverns of Old Ba Sing Se, the first time Aang had ever lost a fight; the only reason he lived to remember that loss was because of that little trickle of water from the spirit oasis at Northern Water Tribe. She no longer possessed that, though. And even after all those months of endless training and preparation, they suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of the same psychopath that killed him. But despite all that, it happened: he beat the Fire Lord, he saved the entire world; and then, the kiss, the single cherry on top that would guaruntee that all their hardships were over. But now, she was sitting here, holding the motionless body in her hands. Was this what she was fighting for? Had that kiss been utterly meaningless?

"Ya know, Katara..."

The girl's eyes shot open and turned to the source of the whisper.

"it seems like your alwaya having to force me awake. Maybe I should consider getting an alarm hawk?"

"Oh, Aang..." she said, embracing the the Air Nomad.

"Um, Katara, this is kind of inappropriate..." Aang tried to remind her.

"What? We're just hugging," Katara retorted, tightening her hold.

"That's not what I meant!" he shouted, pointing behind her.

Aang pushed the waterbender off of him, sprung to his feat, and sent a powerful gail that instantly cooled the glob of lava behind them, thus putting an end to another redundant piece of mushy filler.

Katara came to her senses."Oh!...of course...we were stopping the volcano...heh heh..." she mumbled to herself, stroking the back of her hair.

Aang looked down at the village. Parts of it were on fire, more so the festival (by this point, the entire stage was destroyed). He turned to his left to see Zuko, still on the floating bison, attempting to redirect the heat of the lava. It was then that the young Avatar had an idea. Unfortunately, it required far more power than the boy could muster. To act on his idea, he would need the power of his predicessors, power that most poeple presumed was his true power, but he liked to think the opposite. Since the day of the comet, Aang had sought to rely on his own ability, believing that accessing this power was an escape from his responsibilities. he glanced up at the volcano's mouth, still releasing a constant fountain of lava. The Air Nomad's lips quivered; this defied all he believed about his duties, but he knew if he posponed it anylonger, he would end up reenacting Roku's death.

"Zuko!" Aang called.

The Fire Lord heard the call. He stopped his technique and guided Appa to the ledge.

"Take Katara to a safe place," the Avatar commanded him,"I'm going to stop the volcano!"

The young monarch found that an incredible declaration, even from the Avatar."Just like that? Do you even have that much power?"

"I don't...not on my own," Aang explained.

The water and fire benders understood. Katara climbed back onto Appa; the bison flew away torwards the village.

Aang shared one more moment of eye contact with Katara before turning his attention back to the raging volcano's mouth. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pressed his fists together.

Suddenly, his solid blue arrow tattoos illuminated a colorless white; his glowing pupiless eyes shot open: he was in the Avatar State.

The ledge lowered in angle and scaled the mountain at a great pace.

Zuko and Katara turned their heads and watched as the lava seemed to split open like the tearing of fabric.

The slab stopped at the edge of the firey culdrin. Avatar Aang spread his hands abroad the lake of molten rock. The rumbling around the area increased just noticably, but then it stopped. A second erie silence took place...

Just then, the Avatar aggresivly pushed his palms skyward, causing an enormous ploom of pure heat to skyrocket before him, transferring every particle of warmth into a pillar of hot air, paralleling the diameter of the volcano's mouth. In seconds, every drop of lava, right down to the magma chamber itself, quickly cooled into solid stone, returning Mount Makapu to a dormant (if anything, extinct) state.

* * *

Aang air-scootered back down to the village, surveying the damage; everyone seemed to be alright. The surronding village people, coming out of their cover, applauded at the Avatar's latest deed.

"Nice job, Twinkletoes," Toph chimed in,"not alot o' people can take the earth on and win; that was a bit overkill, though," she commented. He did, after all, just return from killing a volcano.

"I can't believe this happened..." Sokka lamented.

"Yeah, and right in the middle of such an important and joyous event," Suki added, but the Water Tribe warrior seemed to be ignoring her.

"...It's just seems so bizarre after all time and effort that YOU WERE WRONG!" he spontaniously cried happily, spinning around and shoving his finger in Aunt Wu's face.

"Excuse me?" the fortunteller inquired.

"You heard what I said: you just got through telling everybody specificly that Mount Makapu wouldn't go off for the next three years! You had no idea that was gonna happen _just _like the rest of us! Ergo, your not real! I was right, and you were wrong, so HA!"

"You better hope I'm not a real fortunteller," Aunt Wu defended herself, resting her old hands on her old hips,"otherwise, that little fluke could have been a sign that the universe has been altered. Besides, I was right about everything else, wasn't I?"

Unfortunatly for the young Avatar, Aang had caught this while examining some of the burnt buildings." 'Altered'? In a good way, you mean?" he nervously inquired, with a faint pleading tone.

"Oh, it's probably nothing," replied the fortuneteller sarcasticly,"it could be just a change of weather, or a powerful, destructive force has manifested itself and is intent on consuming the universe and everything in it."

"Whoah, all that just because you were wrong about something?" Katara asked, in a student-to-teacher like fashion.

Sokka's worried expression faded."Then I guess it's a good thing you're _not _real! Hence your wrongness!"

"Hey...she _was_ wrong!" cried a random bystander,"She said Mount Makapu woundn't erupt yet!"

"Hey yeah, your right!" aggreed another one.

A crowd began to develop around the fortune teller, though this one was not as cheery as the previous crowd.

"Everybody, calm down," tried Katara, standing in front of Aunt Wu protectively,"We all know of the countless things that occured that Aunt Wu _did _predict. There is only one reasonable explanation why our beloved fortune teller was suddenly...er...inaccurate on such an important matter: there is something wrong with the universe."

The Water Tribe girl was clearly oblivious to the sounding absurdity of her statement. Her father coundn't help but put a palm to his forehead.

"Oh _suure_," mocked a bald man,"Whe're talkin' about the same woman that told me my hair would grow back by winter. Well, it's almost winter, and I'm still bald!"

"Well, maybe you should wait until winter," suggested Katara.

"I'm not waitin' that long! I want it back now!"

The crowd rooted for the bald man.

A young man with peculiar red shoes stood forward."She also told a year ago that I would fall in love in these shoes, And I've been wearing them ever since!"

"Realy?" inquired a young woman with a peculiar blue hat,"Aunt Wu made the same prediction about my hat!"

It was love at first sight.

"Wanna have dinner?" asked the man.

"_Sure_," cooed the woman.

They both walked off holding hands, Though the people seemed not to notice either blunder.

Angry screams began to accumulate as the surronding villagers voiced out other "faults" in Aunt Wu predictions.

"Now...now come on, everyone,"Aunt Wu tried," most of these prediction haven't even happened yet, so...um...Look! Another meteor!" she shouted, pointing to a random spot in the night sky. The fortune teller dashed for home as everyone looked to the direction she pointed, showing remarkable physical apptitude for her ripened age.

"Hey, there's no meteor! She was wrong again!" pointed out a man.

"Let's go home!" said a woman.

The people started to leave

Katara raised her hands."Wait! That wasn't a prediction! Aunt Wu was just diverting your attention so...you...wouldn't...run after her...I hope your happy," she hissed, glaring at her brother, who had his arms crossed and smirking.

"Good, cause I am," retorted Sokka.

Chief Arnook walked up."I suppose it's time we end this tour before things get any worse. The people of the Northern Water Tribe are probably anxious for my return. It would be best if I left tonight so as to not keep them waiting," he explained to the southern chief.

"I agree," Hakoda said,"Though one of us should return to the Fire Nation. There are still a lot of council meetings that need a Water Chief present."

"Agreed," Arnook turned around and looked at the Moon, still a quarter full. The chief sighed, and walked away, wondering if he'd ever see her again.

"Welp', I guess we should leave too," said Toph, folding her hands behind her head,"We're kind of jinxing ths town, anyway. I'll be in the airship if you need me..."

"Now hold on a second, Toph..." Lao stopped his daughter, laying a hand on her shoulder,"We're going back to Goaling. It's time to go home," he declared sternly.

The blind bender sighed again."Of course. How could I forget?" she recited glumly.

Poppy noticed this."...er...And besides, the next Earth Rumbler tournament is coming soon. You need to defend your title."

Toph gasped with exitement."You remembered!"

* * *

Before long, the group broke off, all airships were in the air and heading for home.

All the passengers in Fire Lord Zuko's ship were fast asleep except, of course, Aang,who was sitting alongside the right edge of the ship, gazing at the stars-he was holdeing his glider, for safety.

He was the only one on the ship who had any understand of what just happened; and frankly, he felt more alone than ever. Was the meteor an attack directed to him? Or perhaps just a warning? Either way, the young Avatar almost died this night because of it, and that was reason enough to believe it wasn't a friendly gesture. Aunt Wu was right, the universe had been altered, if for just a moment; and worst part of it was, that stone object was still up there, waiting for him, and he had no means of reaching it before another disaster struck. Whatever this thing, this entity, was here for, the Avatar would have to wait for _it _to come to him.

* * *

**Whew! Man, that took a long time! I thought I'd never finish this thing as busy as I've been...**

**Sonic: Oh yeah, you've been so preoccupied, what with the video games, and the Youtube, and reading **_**other people's**_** fanfictions...**

**You can stop now...**

**Sonic:...and the listening to music, and the eating, and the walking around and doing nothing...**

**Alright, that's it! Go to your room!**

**Sonic: What room? I don't leave here.**

***group of Armenian archetechs come out of nowhere and build a new room for Sonic***

**Sonic:0_0...kewl! *leaves to check out new room***

**Oh, and I apologize to all the dudes that read that Kataang moment; I just wanted to make sure the tension of Aang falling flat on his face against solid rock was present.**

**Sonic: *inside his room* Hey! There's built-in surround sound in here!**

**Please Review!**


	3. Sokka, The Waterbender

**Hey, everybody, M0b1uz again. Sorry for the wait, people, I had to fast my fanfiction for the past forty days.**

**Sonic: Fast? You mean you were exercising?**

**Uh, no. Fasting is when you give up doing something for a certain amount of time to pay homage to the forty days that Je-**

**Sonic: *quickly covers my mouth***

**Mm? Mm nfm nmvp!**

**Sonic: Sorry, politicly correct reflex *removes hand from mouth***

**Don't blame you. Now, this chapter is going to be centered around everyone's favorate Water Tribe "genius" and...well, you'd probably have a good guess what it's about if you cared enough to read the title...**

**Sonic: Ooh, don't tell me! This is the one where they find a crashed space pod and rescue a mysterious unconscous man inside wearing blue armor who is actually...**

**Dude! Shush! I'm saving that for something else! Just *sigh* just look up.**

**Sonic: Kay...*looks up and reads the title*...O_O...SAY WHAT? Don't tell me your desperate enough to pull **_**that**_** out of the garage!**

**Of course not, that why they call it a**_** "twist".**_

**Sonic: Ahhh, a twist. I get ya. **

**...No you don't**

**Sonic: Nope**

**On with the story...**

* * *

**Book Four:**

_**Metal**_

**Chapter Two:**

_**Sokka, The Waterbender **_

The reflection of a flying bison's grey belly displayed itself on the surface of the calm ocean as Appa flew casually toward and nearing Ember Island, carrying the Gaang on his back, minus Zuko, who was still at the Fire Nation's capitol, attending extremely important (but boring) Peace Council meetings. Or Toph, who was currently in Gaoling attending exremely boring (but irrelevent) dinner parties.

"I can't believe we're flying right into Fire Nation territory and there are no flaming hunks of stone hurdleing towards us!" began Sokka.

"Sokka, it's been almost three months since we made peace with the Fire Nation," Suki lamented,"Shouldn't you be use to it by now?"

"I am, but it's still kind of amazing when ya think about it. I mean, pretty much everybody on Earth was born into The War; in fact, I bet most people thought it would never end, let alone on the night of Sozin's Comet. I'm sure alot o' old people would agree with me, _right, _Aang?" Sokka explained, addressing to the chronologicly hundred-and-twelve-year-old manning the reigns on Appa's head.

The Avatar was pullen out of his thoughts."Hm?...d'oh, sure...really unbelievable," he mumbled in a somewhat deflated tone, sinking back into contemplation. It's been two whole days, and the airbender still couldn't get his mind off the meteor. Just what did it mean? And why has nothing else happened since then? Or maybe things have been happening, but on different parts of the planet?

The Water Tribe warrior picked up his reluctance."You aren't still thinking about the eruption, are you? If anything, that meteor was a good thing. If Mount Makapu had that much energy just now, think what would of happened three years later! And I doubt you would've been there then. Now, _all _the volcano's energy's been expelled, which means it won't go off again for like, ever."

"So, you are admitting the possibility that Mount Makapu _would have_ erupted three years fron now?" Katara inquired her brother sharply.

Sokka also heard this."Oh, come _on_, Katara, I'm not even going to justify this. It was only a matter of time before Aunt Wu slipped up, I'm just glad we both finally got to see it for ourselves."

"Do you know what you've done?" Katara yelled, spinning her head to her brother,"Because of you, _no one_ believes her anymore! Maybe you should think what happens when Aunt Wu actually does forsee something terrible, and everybody ignores her all because of one little fluke!

Sokka sighed."Suki, back me up here."

The Kyoshi Warrior shrugged."I don't know what to tell you, Sokka, That meteor was way too inconvenient for a coincidence. Maybe there actually is something wrong with the universe?" She proposed.

Sokka was flabbergasted by his girlfriend's sudden betrayl. He turned to his best friend."Aang?"

"That wasn't supposed to happen," the Avatar replied flatly.

The warrior was now desperate"...m...Momo?"

The bat lemur immediately crawled off of Sokka's shoulder and curled into Katara's lap.

The waterbender stroked his back, making sure her brother saw it.

"...Well, who cares what a lemur thinks?" Sokka mumbled, crossing his arms. He would have asked Appa for support, but he perferred not to swim the rest of the way.

**Later that day...**

Sokka found himself wandering aimlessly around the shopping discrict of Ember Island, hoping to find something of interest for Suki, though he knew it was pointless, aparently since she and all of his friends - including Momo - held malice toward him for doing what was a good thing in his eyes, but he shrugged it off. The young warrior thought he might as well purchase someting while he was out. He saw a cabbage cart not too far away.

"One cabbage please," he requested indiferently, looking the other way.

"Here ya go," replied a deep, shady voice, followed by a large muscular hand holding a cabbage.

"Thanks," Sokka said, taking the cabbage and reaching into his pocket money, when suddenly the boy froze as his brain fully registered the familiar voice.

"CHIT SANG?" he screamed, spinning his whole body in the direction of the large man wearing an apron.

Chit Sang also paused as he recalled the voice."Hey, it's you, from the Boiling Rock! _Soka_, right?"

"...It's _Sokka_, actually..." he replied; he always found it irritating someone mispronounced his name,"Anyway, I can't believe they gave you a full pardon! Even after we helped you escape!"

"...Uh, yeah, a full pardon, that's it..." the ex-con sheepishly confirmed, looking in multiple directions,"And I got a job, too! Some old merchant hired me to sell his cabbages for him, figured my luck would be better than his," he explained,"So, I heard your dad took out a whole bunch o' airships during the Comet, crashed 'em all into eachother."

Sokka attained a quizzicle expression."Wait a second, that was me!" he cried,"I mean, sure, I couldn't of done it without Toph or Suki, but it was still myidea!"

Chit Sang seemed surprised to hear this."Seriously? Huh, well, I guess ya can't believe everything they tell ya. So, does that mean it was your dad that smeared that fortune teller?" he inquired.

Sokka's jaw unhinged."Oh, COME. ON! Is that the only thing I'm known for? Being a jerk?" he whaled, flinging his arms in the air, though this somehow seemed to cause a deep look of surprise on Chit Sang's face."I do _all_ the brain work and come up with _all _the plans that almost _always_ work, just so they can push me aside show off!" he contintinued to flail his arms around. Chit Sang was still focused on the tendrils of water in the fountain behind Sokka copying his every hand movement."I wouldn't have such a problem with it if they _thanked_ me for all the chores I'm stuck with, but all I get is giggles and a buncha' condescending jokes about the guy who doesn't have any special powers! I used to have a sword, ya know? It was made from a meteorite! It could cut through solid steel and everything! But, of course, I lost it in a forest during the assult on the airship fleet, which was_ my idea_, my I remind you! I tried to get somebody to help me look for it, but really, who gives a batwolves' tail about a sword that can cut through solid steel; as long as as it's something of _mine_, right?...ARE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION?"

Chit Sang was brought out of focus."Huh? Oh, sorry, I just never took you for a bender."

Sokka cocked his eyebrow."You really weren't listening, were you? I'M _NOT_ A BENDER! WHY DO YOU THINK NO ONE APPRICIATES ME?"

The ex-con pointed behind him. Sokka turned to see a pair of liquid tentacles rising out of the fountain behind him. Naturally, this perplexed the young warrior; he waved his right arm rapidly, and the right tentacle followed. This just irritated him further.

"Very funny, Katara," Sokka dismissed it, however, his sister did not appear."Aang?" he tried again, still no answer."...GranPakku?" one last time. That usually got to the old master, but there was still no one there. Sokka dashed around the fountain, dropping the cabbage; definatly no one. The young warrior could only turn back to the water in the fountain. Still in disbelief, he raised one hand; a mass of water immediatly rised up and mirrored it. Sokka made a series of random finger poses which the water mimicked. He then let his arm go limp, and still to his shock, the water plopped back into the fountain. Could it be? Was Sokka actually...usefull?

At this point, only one thought penetrated the Water Tribe boy's lips."...I'm...a waterbender..." he whispered,"I'm a WATERBENDER!" he yelled, throwing his arm in the air, causing the water to splash everywhere. He ran back over to Chit Sang and hugged him."Thank you, Chit Sang! I don't no what you did, but it helped me to find my inner bender! I got to go tell Katara!" he resoluted, darting off for the beach.

While Chit Sang hadn't the faintest idea of what occured, he still felt as though he actually did something good for once as he leaned against the cabbage cart, tilting the other way under his own weight. He quickly stopped the cart before it fell over."Whew! That was a close one!" he noted,"I was one wrong move away gettin' fired! I gotta be more carfull nextime," he thought aloud as he pushed the cart to a different spot. Little did he know, the ex-con was getting a raise.

**Meanwhile, at the beach...**

The rest of the Gaang, along with many other residents, were taking advantage of a sudden heatwave for some beachtime fun. Katara was surfing the waves on an ice board, Suki was helping children construct a proper sand statue of Avatar Kyoshi, and Aang and his animal guide Appa were reclining on the sun-warmed sand, not disturbing anyone.

Katara _whoo-hoo_'ed and laughed as she skidded to a hault before the young nomad."Aang, come on! The water's not even cold!" she chimed, calling for him, but as the Water Tribe girl got closer, her smile faded. A closer inspection of the Avatar's reclining displayed that it was one of anxiety, not content. He was staring at the sky, awaiting a disaster to present itself.

"Aang..." she sighed, walking over to and sitting down next to him.

"I can't help it, Katara," Aang replied,"The cosmic order has been compromised. Even _if_ it's nothing bad, I just know this isn't the end of it..."

"Just because something happened to the universe, doesn't mean that it's broken," Katara comforted him, but Aang was engrossed in his own thoughts.

"Maybe it's because you brought me back to life after the fight at Ba Sing Se..." he considered, right before springing to his feet,"Quick! Katara! Kill me!"

"AANG, CALM _DOWN_!"Katara cried, grabbing a hold of his cheeks,"I am _not_ going to kill you. You're just stressed, like before the eclipse!"

"How can you even be saying this?" Aang inquired,"Aunt Wu said it herself, and you agreed with her!"

"I know, but you're losing your head over something that could be good! What I'm saying is, is that sometimes..." she swallowed,"Aunt Wu can be wrong too," she choked, a small part of herself perishing in the proccess.

Aang noted her sacrifice."You know, you're right," he smiled,"That thing in space probably won't do anything for a long time. I guess as long as nothing else weird happens, the universe should be just fine."

Suddenly, Sokka slid to a hault behind Aang."Guys! You're not gonna believe it! I'm...a _waterbender!_"

The young Avatar blinked, then plopped back to the sand."The universe is broken...We're all gonna die...All hail the Phenox King..." he chanted, curling into a fedal position.

"Sokka, don't you think you've ruined enough reputations for _one week_?" the waterbender inquired angryly, dispite the fact that she had just contradicted herself.

"Now Katara, I know this is the fourth time I've claimed to be a bender, but I am _completely_ without doubt this time," Sokka began.

"...thus marking this moment as the second time you claimed that you were _'absolutly certain this time'_," his sister mocked, quoting him from last time.

The self-proclaimed waterbender's eyelids lowered; he sighed."Fine, I knew I was gonna have to prove it anyway," he accepted, walking close enough to the ocean as the tide grazed his feet. He then assumed a mock waterbender pose."Let us see how well you can look down on me when you're _sopping wet_."

Sokka pulled his hands back, facing the ocean, and with a loud "Whappaaaa!" that caught everyone's attention including Suki's, thrust his palms forward, hoping to pummel his skeptical sister with a huge palm of water. Alas, the only result accompanying this action was silence, and the shaking of said sister's head.

Sokka seemed more taken than at the fountain."What? That's impossible! It worked before!" He whined, attempting it again.

"Did Sokka just try to waterbend?" asked Suki to Katara.

"Yeah, I wish he would just give it up," the real waterbender explained, with her brother in the background displaying his stubborness,"It not the first time, though; in fact, last week, he 'could have swarn' he was a firebender. The reason behind that is best left a-" she was interrupted by a wave of water, rendering her, Suki, and Aang saturated."...mystery?"

Their heads turn to Sokka, the only logical source."Oh yeah! 'Only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe' my foot!" he cried, initiating a victory dance.

"I'm glad he's not a _firebender_," noted Suki. Aang, however, had a different take.

"Sokka, this isn't a time for victory dancing," he tried,"the laws of physics have shifted out of phase. Next thing you know, Suki will start earthbending, Momo will be crowned Lemur Lord, Appa will be able to talk!" he announced, clearly overrreacting,"I've already seen what that's like. And I can assure you, it's _not _pretty." Even Appa stared at his master quzzicly.

"Yeah, that does seem evident. Unless..." Suki thought,"Could it really be? I thought it was just myth but..."

"What? What's a myth? I demand that you tell me!" commanded Aang of the Kyoshi Warror.

"Well, this is just a theory, but Sokka might have what is called _Temporary Non-Bender Syndrom_," she explained,"The theory is that a select few benders are born mentally unable to bend, which leads most to believe that they can't bend. But, around the age of fifteen and/or sixteen, their phychological handicap is grown out of, and they can bend."

"_I'm _around the age of fifteen and/or sixteen!" Sokka remembered, then attemting pull out from the vast ocean a tailed ball of water, similar to the basic waterbending exercise."Of course! That explains how you could bend even though you were born _after me!_ Science prevails once again! That's two-for-two, counting _previous events_."

Katara's brow twitched; she wasn't letting this hit the ground without a fight, or rather, a duel.

"Well, it looks like you were special after all, big brother of mine," she congradulated, feighning her usual upbeat attitude,"And it looks like you're pretty good, too. But, one can only wonder, just _how good_ are you?"

The newly-realised waterbender let the large drip splatter on the sand as he heard this."Ugh, I dunno, pretty good, I guess. What are you getting at, Katara?" he slowly asked her.

An edgy smile spread across the girl's face."Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, I challenge you...to an AGNI KAI!" She annouced, pointing in dramatic fashion.

"Ugh...We're waterbenders..."

The sound of the splashing tides seemed to increase in volume during this moment of silence.

"...oh... Well, then I challenge you to an...erm... an Aqua Kai!"

"I accept your challenge!" Sokka annouced with equal enthusiasm.

They walked off preparing for combat.

"Well this is an interesting turn of events," observed Suki,"I guess we should make an arena or something..." she ran off to gather supplies for a fence,leaving the young Avatar alone.

"But what if it's _not_ some syndrom?" Aang inquired,"What if somewhere right now, Momo is assembleing an army of primates to conquer the world?" he tried one last time, but it was too late. Aang sighed, hoping it really was just Temporary Non-Bender Syndrom.

A moment later, Momo crawled on to the scene wearing the hat he stole from a Fire Sage and a beach towel tied around his neck like a cape. Aang noticed this, causing him to balk in fear.

**Later that afternoon...**

Sokka and Katara each stood on an offshore rock separated twenty feet by ocean. Suki and Aang had erected a fence on the beach to serve as a boundry for the on-lookers witnessing the duel.

The sibling were ficsated on eachother, paying little mind to even the waves that splashed against the rocks, sprinkling them with droplets.

_It begins. . ._

Katara punches straight forward, sending a spear of water blasting towards Sokka.

Sokka shoots out his left hand, swings left, blocking Katara's attack, re-directing the water around him, swings his hip; and withn the same motion, launches a savage back kick with his left leg.

A massive water missile flies towards Katara, and rather than block, she counters' swinging her right arm into a brutal downward slice, sending the water searing past her, back into the seas. . .

She regains momentum, spins back a step with hand folded over into circular pattern, a whirl pool of water forming in the gap; she spin forward a step sending an orb of water tearing through air

with the brutality of a canon ball, and the furiosity of an orca.

The beast races towards its prey; but somehow, this "prey" is feelin' lucky today. . .

Sokka sprints on the ocean surface towards Katara with un-natural speed, knocks the liquid canon ball aside with a bit too much ease, grabs water missle, spins in mid dash, and hurls the now water-spear

with the might of javelin thrower. Katara claps her hands together to form a water shield which blocked the the water spear, but not dense enough to block the flying stomp kick which narrowly misses Katara as she leaps to the right; Sokka lands on the rock with enough force to shake the algae off. . .

"Wow, that didn't even hurt!" Sokka exlaimed, momentarily suprise at both his new found physical strength and aggressive tactics; and his mistake: his back was turned.

He sees a suggestion of a quick movement on his right...

He just barely misses Katara's counter attack: a water whip narrowly missing the top of his head as he leaps within her attack.

_Too fast_

He shoots out his right fist, aimed for the nose, which Katara blocks and knocks aside with her left hand, preparing to counter with a right jab. . .which never even comes close to landing. . .

With unatural speed, his left palm in a brutal upper arch, a geyser of ocean water following and sending Katara flying into the air and then landing into the ocean. . .

The spectators are speechless. . .Sokka is too.

The power in the attack was like nothing he had ever seen, let alone anything he could ever hope to accomplish against the fight art of the north. . .

Then his thoughts went back to his sister. _Was she alright? It was just a duel. He didn't want to attack with that kind of force. . ._

Sokka's concern for Katara intensified and when he saw the bubbles in the water. . .

"Katara!" Sokka shouted, but there was no answer. Well, no peacful one anyway. . .

Suddenly, Katara pounced out of the surface and tacled her brother, knocking them both back underwater.

The audience remained silent, waiting for something to cut through the haze of tension...

Their patience payed off when a hump of water burst open, blasting out a screaming Katara over their heads, and into the sand-Kyoshi that Suki built.

"Aww..." The Kyoshi Warrior moaned, along with the children whom she had helped.

A moment later, Sokka popped to the surface as well. He dragged himself out of the ocean, leaned on the fence and took deep breaths, indicating that he was just drowning a moment before. The boy was welcomed by a thunderous applaud from the spectators."SOO-KKA!...SOO-KKA!" they chanted.

He looked up in confusion."Wait, I _won_?" Sokka asked with emphasis on "won".

" 'Won' ? You blew her away; literaly!" Suki confirmed, gesturing to the destroyed sand statue.

"Can I freak out now?" Aang asked, hoping it was okay.

Katara forced herself up, spitting some sand out."He _**what**_?" she inquired as she got up and stomped over to Suki."That's impossible! I was choking you, and then you were unconscous, and I was gonna save you but... I don't know, the water just came to life and threw me onto the shore!"

"Pfft', _suure_, the ocean spirit just felt sorry for me and decided to _come to my rescue_..." Sokka mused, ever sarcastic. He hopped over the fence."You just can't take the fact that you were just out-bended by someone other than an old master..." he told his sister off to her face, then walking away.

The Water Tribe girl tried to contain her rage, though it was still seeping out, similar to Iroh's teapot."_Oh, well_, seeing as how you're so awsome and all, I guess I don't have to teach you a stinkin' _thing_ about waterbending!" she announced.

"As if I was going to ask..." Sokka replied," Which reminds me...Aang, do you think you could show me a few pointers?" he requested.

The Avatar raised finger in protest, but it went limp as he was aware it was pointless. He knew it best if he'd simply let it flow down the river like that guru said."Sure, come on," he said, motioning for his new student to follow.

**Later that evening...**

The two were performing the basic waterbending exercise, manipulating a large drip back and forth in an outline an ellipse.

"Very good, Sokka, I'm not going to lie, you're really exceling at this," complemented Aang to his pupil.

They bended the drip back into the pot.

"Yep, I guess I'm just a natural; like Azula, only...less crazy," Sokka responded while stretching.

Aang frowned."You know this is only temporary, Sokka. After the universal balance is restored, everything's going to be the way it was before, with you being normal and all..." he reminded.

Sokka stopped stretching, and looked down."Yeah..." he blinked and looked at his master,"But if it means we get to save the world again, I'm totally okay with that."

"Really? You'd make that sacrifice? I thought you hated not being able to blow stuff up."

" I was never really a blow-stuff-up-kinda' guy," he assurred Aang,"Besides, once I finally get Zuko to send a search party for my boomerang, I won't need to."

"What about your space sword?" Aang inquired.

Sokka shrugged."Eh, that was just a faze."

"Right, well, it's getting late. We should probably head home," Aang said.

"Yeah, we should go now. It's best if this whole bending thing doesn't get to my head," Sokka agreed, following the Avatar back inside.

**Later that night...**

The new-found waterbender slithered through the town, making sure no one saw or heard him in the dead of night. He had his back against an ally wall, poking his head around the corner, scanning the empty plaza; there was no sign of move ment other than the ripples in the fountain. He grinned.

For Sokka, this was truly a once in a liftime opportunity; he wasn't sure when the universe was going to fix itself so he resoluted to make the most of it.

He crawled to the edge of the fountain, slowly raised above and looked at the water. He turned in all directions before carrying out his resolution.

_"Alright, Water, prepare to be bendafied"_ he whispered, wiggling his fingers.

Sokka slowly pushed his hands forward, and to his relief the water obeyed.

_"Yeah, that's the ticket, Water, push and pull, push and..."_

Suddenly, the water came higher than Sokka ment for it to.

"Whoah there, Water, not too fast, we don't want to make alot o' noise..."

In a striking display of disobedience, the water quickly rose to eye-level, prompting Sokka to fall on his behind.

"Uhh, okay, Water, time to stop moving now; I'm not bending you anymore," Sokka reminded nervously, backing further as the water crawled out of the fountain on its own and torward the terrified warrior.

To Sokka's horror, the blob of liquid began to assume a solid shape, forming a pair of clawed hands, along with a pair of clawed feet about the same size. Afterwards, what resembled a brain materialized at the peak of the now huminoid form.

"Water?" Sokka squeaked as he stared into the green glowing eyes of the god of destruction himself: Chaos.

**. . .**

A shrill, girly shreik penatrated the peacful barrier of the island.

The wanabe waterbender found himself running for his survival, screaming almost inhumanly loud for any sort of savior.

"AAAAANG! KATAAARAAAA! SUUUKIII! MOOOMOOOOO! SWEET MOTHER OF SEAL JERKY, SOMEBODY HELP MEEEE!

Out of nowhere, Sokka's predator landed right in his path, causing him to slide to a stop, almost falling down, and speed off to the creature's left, still screaming.

"WHAAAAAHH!"

Sokka didn't care where he was running, or what exactly he was running from, his only thought was to get as far away from it as possible; but that was his second mistake...

It was too late before the young warrior realized he had just stopped at the edge of a narrow cliff, with sharp rocks at the bottom ready to impale anyone stupid enough come too close.

As he turned, he saw the beast standing a mere twenty feet away, his lifeless green eyes luminating the darkness.

"Alright, universe, I get it!" Sokka announced, looking at the sky and backing further from the monster,"I promise I won't tamper with you anymore if you spare my life! Besides, I'm the Avatar's best friend; think about it! If you kill me, then Aang will never try to fix-" his pleading was cut short as his backing heel rested on nothing, causing him to slip off the cliff and plunge to his death.

Or so he thought, before a liquid arm extended over the edge and caught the screaming warrior by the shin and pulled him back above the cliffside.

"What the..." Sokka observed as the silent creature dropped him onto his back. Sokka was simply stared up in awe. Wasn't this the monster that chased him around the island? And, on equally important note, Sokka also observed the creature's concerned expression as it cocked its head to the right.

_"Sokka!" _called several faint voices.

Sokka and Chaos turned to the direction of the voices.

Suddenly, Chaos melted into the dirt, completely gone by the time Sokka's sister, girlfriend, and best friend showed up, panting.

"Sokka! Are you hurt?"Suki asked, helping her boyfriend up.

"Suki! Well, no, but you're not gonna believe what..."

"Why were you screaming?" Aang interupted,"There's probably not a single person on this island who's still asleep because of you!"

"Well, I was kinda about to explain before you..."

"Lemme' guess:" Katara interjected,"You were out here practicing some more waterbending tecniques, when suddenly you slip off the edge of the cliff, hanging on for dear life while screeching like a swamp owl."

"Not exactly; see, there was this..."

"How could you be so stupid?" Aang inquired,"Do you know how many fountains we passed on the way here?"

"Look, I'll be more than happy to tell you if you just..."

"I can't believe you made us run half-way across town in our _underwear!_" Katara groaned, stomping off.

"Thanks, Sokka, now I'm going to wake up tomorrow with dark circles under my eyes! _unbelievable_..." Aang muttered as he followed Katara.

Suki sighed, laying her hand on Sokka's shoulder."Look, Sokka, I'm really happy that you've found something significant about yourself. But please, don't scare me like that again," the Kyoshi Warrior voiced, then she walked away, leaving the baffled male warrior to himself.

"Guys! You didn't even give me a chance! There was this...and then he...dah _whatever_..." Sokka himself grumbled, too tired to even speak. After all, who wouldn't be out of breath after screaming the way he did?

He followed his friends back to the royal cottege. He'd figure this out in the morning...

**The Next Day...**

It was almost noon, and he still couldn't figure it out as he made his way across the street, thinking the route he took while fleeing might jogg his memory of anything specific; though this process only hoped to augment his wonder. The "former" waterbender was still confused as to what just happened in summarized form.

Why did that what-ever-it-was save his life shortly after chasing him all over the town? Why didn't it eat Sokka when it first saw him? Or better yet, why would such a creature lead everyone to believe that Sokka in peticular was a born waterbending prodigy, even helping him defeat his sister in an unfair fight, save him from drowning, and _then_ try to eat Sokka, only to save him a second time, and disappear just before his friends could see it and realize the truth? It's as if the thing was doing this on purpose!

There was little doubt in the teen's mind that this must have been a result of the "destructive entity" that Aunt Wu was babbling about, _But why me?_, Sokka thought, _Why not someone who deserves it, like Ozai or Hahn? I mean I did date the Moon once, but just once! _

It was just a second or two later before Sokka heard, or rather felt, a strange ringing in his ear. He turn in multiple directions for a source; no one seemed to detect it but him.

There it was again, this time from an actual direction: this was chance.

He dashed in path of the noise, intent on finding the what-ever-it-was on the other side.

**. . . **

It was a minute or two before Sokka grew tired of all the running. When he did, he realized he was at the front yard of Zuko's royal summer home - the one he came out of this morning - with the pulsating ringing persisting somewhere behind it.

His eyes bugged out."Of ALL the places...!" he resented before scrambleing frustratedly into the house.

Sokka zipped from room to room, open every door, blowing down every hall, hoping to see some kind of something at every unchecked area; but sadly, every single division of the so-called "cottege" retained one characteristic in common: they were all empty.

The warrior, finally exasperated by all the recent physical activity, eventualy rationalized that his was currently the only living thing that resided within the complex of a house as he limped into the kitchen (coherently the last room the search), got a glass of water, and sat down at the table.

As he took a sip, he could only reflect on what an astonishing turn of events this was for him. One minute, Sokka is mopping the sand with his sister's face in a duel; the next, he's at the bottom of the bending chain once more, and he's hopping all over the island like an idiot, struggling to decipher a supernatural enigma that _should_ _be_ the Avatar's business. But alas, Sokka had to face facts: he wasn't the one who defeated or even took on Katara in the first place; that thing was. And Sokka could only wonder, just what was that thing? It was then that the teen warrior had an epiphany: Aang was troubled because realilty was supposedly tearing apart os something like that. What if somehow, Bending itself has gained a life of its own? And that this creature was born within his subconscousness, his immortal desire to become significant over his own baby sister? Sokka then considered the possibility of some sort of metal fire bending monster, with long bird-like legs, glowing yellow eyes, and a strange metal tube for a right arm, probably for shooting fireballs...kind of like the one in the reflection of his water, standing right behind him.

**"****Where is the Chaos Emerald?****"**

**Meanwhile...**

Aang, Katara, and Suki were out having lunch with Fire Lord Zuko and Mai, with Katara telling them about there weekend.

"...and I blow out the candle, right? And all of a sudden, I open my eyes to this inhuman schreech that sounded almost like..."

The entire island echoed with another high-pitch shreik.

"...Like that?" Mai inquiried.

* * *

***exasperated sigh* Well, there you have it; but seriously, don't thank me, thank INeedToWrite for helping me with this chapter, particularly the duel scene and Sokka's thoughts at the-**

*****_**Catch Me if You Can **_**booms in the background***

**Gah! What the...?**

**Sonic: Sorry about that! Just messin' with my surround sound! Came with my new room, remember? **_**No turnin' back-We are born to dream!-In a world full of seeing what we never could reach!...**_

**Jet: HEY! That's MY theme song!**

**Sonic: Oh please, the Zero Gravity Mix is so me! Besides, you know you guys stay mad with **_**this **_**in the background!**

**Me/Jet: *looks at eachother*...**

**Ah, what the heck?**

**Me/Sonic/Jet: **_**CATCH me if you can!...There's no turnin' back; Reach but never catch!...**_

**Please Review!**


	4. Part 2

**Hey, everybody! Did ya like the previous chapter? (Austrian accent) Well ged redy foda big suprrise...**

**Sonic: **_**Total Recall,**_** 1990...**

**...Just so I could get it to you faster, I purposely cut it short by at least three scenes. And I'm excited to learn that I've received three new reviews since then. So, just for you two, I present to you**

_**Sokka, The Waterbender: Part 2!**_

**(P.S: The "metal monster" happens to be an E - 2,000, one o' those really tough robots from **_**Sonic Heroes **_**that fire pink lazer beams and transform into a jet, a red one. So if you don't know what that is, it would help if you looked up a walkthrough on YouTube [look for a speed run of the Egg Fleet, you should see it there].****I do not own **_**Total Recall.**_**)**

* * *

Sokka had his back to the wall as the alien monster inched toward him, the miniature cannon pointed at his head."Oh, come on! Shouldn't you be chasing Mai around or something?" he protested in a less than masculine tone.

**"****Where is the Chaos Emerald?****" **The monster repeated, unnatural and monotone.

The teen began to sweat heavily."Look, I'd be more than cooperative enough to help you find this special emerald you're talking about; but, here's the thing, I kinda don't know what that is. I did, however, happen to pass a jewelry store on the way here; they might have what you're looking for in stock. I could give you directions if you like..."

A pink light replaced the darkness within the monster's tube-hand. Although, unbeknownst to them both, the kitchen faucet mysteriously pumped itself to life.

"I agree, directions are overrated; I was always more of a map person myself..." Sokka stalled, though he knew this was his final hour whether Aang made it in time or not. The young warrior new it best to simply close his eyes so he wouldn't see it coming...

The noise that followed however was not one that he prepared for: what he assumed would sound like an explosion preceding an abrupt silence sounded more akin to the puncturing of a metallic object, followed by a bizzare buzzing. Overcome by pure curiosity, Sokka opened his eyes and paled at the sight.

The monster's head hung downward, and the last thing it saw was a liquid but contradictingly solid tip of claw jutting out from its chest, the wound crackeling with electricity.

Chaos 1 cast the lifless hunk of metal aside, and turned his attention to Sokka.

After a breif pause between the two, the the former waterbender's eyelids drooped."I ask again:...WHAT _THE_?" he demanded.

Physically unable to answer, the creature merely walked out of the kitchen, leaving moist footprints behind him.

"Wait! Where're you going?" Sokka inquiried, following the footprints.

The teen pursued his "bending" out into the back yard, where he witnesses the thing leap up high in the air and down onto the royal private beach.

"Oh no, ya don't!" he declared.

Chaos 1 touched down on the soft, grey sand, and treked just at the edge of the tides.

Rather than run, Sokka decided to take his time down the steps to the beach, where he caught sight of the creature, staring deeply and contemplatively into the horizon, his larger right arm lifted slightly. He sighed.

"Look," he panted,"I already know you can't talk, but could you at least gimme some hand signs as to what's going on?" he pleaded, though the silent creature paid no mind to him. Sokka took advantage of the silence to observe his "bending's" more specific physical features. The boy got a better look of the creature's brain, which to him was more uncanny to the likeness of a potato - Sokka wondered if everyone's brain looked like that - not to mention that unevenly large right arm - the only appendage that seemed to have bones - which the beast had elavated to around the height of Sokka's mid-section, slowly flexing his fingers open and closed. Now that he noticed it, there did appear to be a strange white fosforesence that resided within the palm. Sokka walked causiously went in for a closer inspection; and that's when he saw it: a luminous ivory jewl partialy incased inside the bone.

"Whoah...that's what that thing was looking for, wasn't it?...the Chaos Emerald..." Sokka realized, gaining the creature's attention.

The entity's pure green eyes were locked on to the young warrior's blue irises for a moment, but they soon reunited with the sea.

Why Chaos had befriended this random human he couldn't quite explain, even if he did have the capacity to speak. It may have been, Chaos supposed, that the boy reminded him of his Chao bretheren, given that like a Chao, he was very small and even more so helpless; also, the boy's voice was on a noticably higher level of pitch than most humans he had encountered so far. But that was of little importance as of now. As the mutated Chao gazed upon the noexistent point between sky and ocean, the truth was unshakable: _he_ would come looking for this emerald, Chaos's escape was the only thing that rented limitless power from his grip. Chaos had only managed to steal one, but one out of seven made all the difference, and he was going to make sure it stayed that way, even if the sacred jewel is lost forever.

Suddenly, the jewel's glow intensified, prompting Sokka to shield his eyes. Just when he thought things could get weirder, the creature began to shrink in stature, the bone in his arm dissolving. by the time Sokka could see clearly, the creature retained all his characteristics, aside from the fact that his arms were evenly proportioned, and he was now only as tall as Sokka was (minus the horn).

Chaos 0 then pulled his arm back, and hurled the emerald far out into the ocean, where it sank to the depths, hopefully never to be found again.

As Sokka witnessed this, one core question hummed within his cerebrum; it was a question he'd been wanting to get off his chest for a while now: "I...was never a waterbender to begin with, was I?" he asked timidly.

Chaos turned back to his new aquatance, now wishing he was able to vocalize an apology for mentally labeling him as small, though he was still very helpless.

Sokka took that as a yes, looking down at the sand; he figured as much. Though soon after, he smiled."...Well, thanks for making me feel special for a day," he said, holding out his hand to shake.

Chaos simply nodded, a puddle forming beneath his feet. In seconds, Chaos had completely dissovled into the sand, leaving the (even more) bewildered Sokka alone. He then turned toward the sea.

While Sokka might not ever know what exactly took place within the shores of Ember Island or the village of Makapu, he didn't really care to. And maybe, the young warrior thought, maybe it was better that way.

Unfortunately, another thought crossed his mind: that monster's body was still in the kitchen! What would his friends think when they saw that...that thing just lying there?...That is to say: _if _they saw it. Sokka had an idea...

* * *

Appa dragged the "corpse" across the sand via his gritting teeth, nearing the tides. Then, with a sudden jerk of neck muscles, heaved the scrap up in the air and into the sea.

Sokka smiled in total victory as he affectionatly patte the panting bison's head, grateful to have more than one monster as a friend.

**Later that night...**

* * *

Chaos bounded across the rocky landscape, knowing that traveling by sea would not answer any of his questions.

As he bounded, he pondered why he was even here in the first place. He wondered why his capture wanted to go to another world identical to the previous one. Why did he need Chaos to do it? The overgrown Chao was also concerned about his bretheren; how would they fare without him? And Tikal, he really missed having someone to listen to who understands him.

Chaos was pulled out of his thoughts on his next bound, when suddenly the ground gave away beneath his feet, causing him to plummet down through the trap.

He fell down into a pre-made heap of dirt. He rose from the heap an akward muddy mass.

Two men in black robes and wide circular hats landed on either side of him.

Chaos tried to separate from the mud and defend himself, but he could hardly even move. It was as if the dirt was specificly designed to absorb moistier.

The agents forced him up without even touching him and threw him against a cleanly cut wall.

Out of the darkness came a third man. He wore the robe but was hatless. A long braid trailed down his shoulder.

"You...are a monster," he sternly declared as a simple matter of fact, his deep voice resonating in the empty , an orange translucent pot with a lit candle inside of it wisped by between them.

"You are an abomidable, rougue beast. Your only nature is destruction."

The pot flashed by again, this time the candle was more difficult to see.

"But that does not mean...you cannot be controlled..."

Another flash; the candle was gone.

"You will perform my every command without hesitation nor remorse..."

The whole pot was strenuous to make out.

"And pine for one when I am silent..."

There was no pot, just a light. Everything else was a void of black nothingness. There was just the man and the light.

"Forever vigilent..."

Just the man and the light.

"Forever submissive..."

Just his master and the light.

"Forever..._mine_."

_*FLASH*_

* * *

**And, there it is**

**Sonic: Um, one question:...WHAT JUST HAPPENED?**

**I'm not tellin' you; go watch **_**The City of Walls and Secrets.**_

**Sonic: Aww, but that'll take too long! I hate waiting!**

**How's that? You used to wait whole days in **_**SONIC Unleashed...**_

**Sonic: Yeah, and we all liked that game, huh?**

**I do, actually...**

**Sonic:...oh...**

**...**

**Sonic:...**

**...**

**Sonic:...Well uh...guess it's back to ma new room now...**

**...**

**Sonic: *slowly walks out of the room***

**...please review... **


	5. The Beseige

**Alright, everybody, now that the filler chapter is done, it's time to get down to the gritty-knitty...**

**Sonic: Gritty-knitty?**

**Sounds cooler. So, just so we're clear on the subject...**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender **_**or **_**SONIC The Hedgehog**

**Sonic: Do you honestly have to tell people that?**

**Remember TeamFourStar?**

**Sonic: Touche.**

**On with the story!...**

_Previously, on Avatar..._

* * *

_"What's happening?"_, _Aang asked, hoping for an answer from the previous Avatar._

_*FLASH*_

_"What is it?" Aang asked, still thinking Roku might know._

_"__I have no idea. It appears to be a vessel of some sort.__"_

_*FLASH*_

_"__...Aang, you must return to your body so that you may resume your duties. Prepare for anything, for whatever this entity is, it may very well be here to upsurp the balance of the world, or even balance itself.__"_

_*FLASH*_

_Aang sat up."It wasn't a bad dream", he said,"it was a vision. I was talking to Roku, and there was this big flash, and then this giant, round, pointy thing came out of nowhere. Then Roku was gone, and then a meteor..."_

_*FLASH*_

_"...You just got through telling everybody specificly that Mount Makapu wouldn't go off for the next three years! You had no idea that was gonna happen __just__ like the rest of us! Ergo, your not real! I was right, and you were wrong, so HA!"_

_"You better hope I'm not a real fortunteller," Aunt Wu defended herself, resting her old hands on her old hips,"otherwise, that little fluke could have been a sign that the universe has been altered..." _

_*FLASH*_

_"...It's probably nothing," replied the fortuneteller sarcasticly,"it could be just a change of weather, or a powerful, destructive force has manifested itself and is intent on consuming the universe and everything in it."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Do you know what you've done?" Katara yelled, spinning her head to her brother,"Because of you, no one believes her anymore! Maybe you should think what happens when Aunt Wu actually does forsee something terrible, and everybody ignores her all because of one little fluke!"_

_*FLASH*_

_"I can't help it, Katara," Aang replied,"The cosmic order has been compromised. Even if it's nothing bad, I just know this isn't the end of it..."_

_*FLASH*_

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Three:**

**The Beseige**

Silence...it was all that was there.

No dancing flames to conceal his mortality, no peons that wouldn't so much as dream of looking upon his face, not even a redish metallic shade to ever remind him that he was still home. He just sat there, more or less lay there, aganst the even-temperatured, grey stone wall, his arms crossed against his bare chest. They offered him raggs to wear but he rectracted, not surprising many.

Ninety-seven days - yes, he counted - he had been here, festering in this cell for ninety-seven long, solid days, and still the most unbelievable factuality to comprehend was ringing out all over the map: he _lost_. Not to some sort of great warrior, but to a **boy**; a good-natured little vegetarian, a boy that didn't even wish to harm him to begin with. And not only was he over-powered by an individual three quarters of his own height in every manner he could think of, not only did that same child deny him the most commendable of deaths, that the Avatar, the most powerful mortal there ever will be, would have absolutely no other option but to put forth every ounce of power against him and slay him like the heathen god he should have been, to be recorded in history as one equal, if not over-shadowing, to such men as the great Chin the Conquerer, or even his own grandfather, who hunted wild dragons for sport...

That boy, that _infant_, thought it best to strip from him what was practicly his very essence: his very _bending_, and toss what was left in a prison, a mere _prison_; forced to endure the relentless jokes and murmurings of the worthless guards that patroled the halls about his failure, dubbed with such degrading monikers as "The Phoenix Louse" or "The Oven Lord".

A child didn't deserve to weild such a gift, a gift that should've been his. And he was going to get it to; he didn't care how or when this miracle would take place, but he knew he couldn't just sit here for the rest of his life with these lowly morons; this simply couldn't be his destiny, not _his_ destiny...

Suddenly, the silence was supplanted with echoing footsteps that slowly neared his cell, along with rather pleasant scent that penatrated through the usual unspeakable odors; he had a feeling those footsteps and scent were for him.

During his "stay" in prison, he had made it a point to memorize every footstep that had the audacity to pass his cell. These in particular were somewhat soft, possibly attempting to resist any added weight the person's legs had the unbarrable burden to support. Unforunately, the footsteps were only few yards from his room before he recognized the previously unfamiliar scent: Ginseng tea.

_Oh, Agni, just kill me now..._

The rusty metal door squeaked open, and in came former General Iroh in his old Fire Nation attire, holding a steaming teapot resting on a saucer along with two tea cups on either side. He was wearing mittens, of course.

"Ah, there you are, my brother," the former general beamed.

Ozai simply stared, sucking as much subtle hatred into his haggard face as physicly possible, which would be saying a lot for a former Fire Lord.

Iroh sat down cross-legged before the cage bars, carfully setting his Earth Kingdom tea set atop a table cloth on the floor."You know," he began, pouring some piping hot tea into his cup. Ozai wondered how his brother managed to keep it that hot for so long, but he'd rather not get into another elongated dialougue over some hot-leaf juice, "I was drinking this very same tea one day at my apartment, and it just occured to me: we have not spoken to eachother in over three-and-a-half years," Iroh began pouring into the second cup,"I just sat there and thought,'How could this happen?' We used to talk or at least write to eachother about nearly everything; in fact, I don't think we've been able to hold a decent conversation ever since you were crowned the Fire Lord, right when-" he stopped,"...well, you know happened...I suppose it was not a very benevolent six years for any of us," he concluded with a smile, extending the second cup beyond the bars for his younger brother to take it.

_Of course_, the former tyrant deduced. That fat hedonist clamered all the way across the planet just to exploit the perfect (and virtualy immortal) opportunity to finally force that accursed liquid down the former ruler's gullet. It wasn't the fact that the tea in question was from the Earth Kingdom that got to him, though; it was that, after an entire season's worth of inedible grule and astronomicly unpleasant odors, a peasant's drink didn't sound so bad, though he still kept his still, exerting all his willpower to resist the pungent fragrance.

To his relief, the Dragon of the West got the message: Ozai didn't want any (though his taste buds certainly did). The retired general frowned as he pulled his hand away from the rusty bars, setting the cup on the saucer."I suppose you wish to know the reason behind denying the throne that was meant to be mine to begin with?" he inquired, though it was a retorical question: he didn't expect his brother to say anything during this visit,"Well, I guess you deserve to know..." Iroh sipped his tea,"The truth is, I was never a very appropriate choice for such a role; a general, certainly, but that was as far as it went. In my youth, I was stubborn, prideful, and thick-skinned; these traits are usually ones that define an earthbender, though that is not to say _you_ were ever very humble..."

Ozai knew any reaction at his brother's cheap shot would only support his point.

"...but I am getting ahead of myself," Iroh continued, staring at his reflection in the tea-filled cup,"In heinsight, I suppose I reserved every right to seize the throne, but what would that of proved?" he asked, looking into his brother's eyes,"Where is the honor in taking advantage of my own nation's moment of weakness?"

_Oh, so the __Fire Nation__ is your home now?_

"The War would eventully rekindle, and no one would have learned anything...But Zuko is new; he is innocent. And it is this innocence that must be preserved, and developed, so that the potholes of contention may be filled up, and forgotten."

_"The pot holes of contention"? Honestly, Iroh, where do you come up with these metaphors?_

Finishing his tea, the self-exile put on his mitten, picked up the set, and stood up."Well, this was a good talk. I hope that one day, your incarceration will help you to realize that the weight of the world was not meant for your shoulders."

Just before Iroh left, he removed the second cup and placed it before the bars, as a sign of no hard feellings.

Ozai listened as his elder brother's footsteps inevitibly faded away with their echos. He then turned his attention down to the full teacup. He slowly brought it within the cage, stared at it for a few seconds, and took a contentfull sip, as the Phoenix King had very strong sensation that there wasn't going to be an Earth Kingdom for long.

**Meanwhile, in Gaoling...**

A familiar earthbending champion crashed head-first onto the unmerciful ground below the stage.

"And the Boulder has been crumbled once again!" announced Xin Fu to the roaring audience.

"HO Yeah! Third time in a row, baby!" Toph vocalized, embracing her thunderous fans.

"The Boulder is seriously reevaluating his career..."the champion grimaced in third-person before allowing his head to fall back against the perferated floor.

"Hurray, Toph!" Poppy cheered for her daughter."Oh, Lao, I'm so happy we decided to come; look how happy she is!" she beamed, said girl flaunting an evil laugh.

Lao had his chin rest against his palm."I know; I just wish our daughter would be more dignified about the whole thing..."

Indeed, it was the latest Earth Rumbler tournament, and Toph Bei Fong, publicly known as the infamous Blind Bandit, had just smacked down her supposed rival, the Boulder, into a never-ending river of humiliation for the third time in a row (the second time was a private match, so it was unofficial), thus retaining her consistent title as the greatest earthbender in the world.

Xin Fu dropped down to the stage."And there it is, folks! All bets are final, and the Blind Bandit reigns supreme! Although, I'm not gonna lie here, people: anybody who's been here before, whether on the seats or in the ring, could've seen this a continent away. For there was only one man who ever bested her in combat, one man who put this trash-talking brat in her place! And that man...was the AVATAR!"

The audience agreed with another wave of screams and cheers. Toph was simply loving her new reputation as a result of her adventures with Aang; she did, however, have several mixed opinions about being labeled as "second to the Avatar" in terms of earthbending skill.

The former champion continued,"But it really makes ya think, folks: Could there be anyone else?"

_"NOOOOOO!"_ the devoted fans replied.

"Is there anyone else man enough to take on this little girl?" Xin Fu inquired, gaining several more _booooo_'s. The announcer paced across the stage,"The same little girl that taught the Avatar in the the first place?" the masses cheered as he spoke,"The same girl whom not even the Fire Nation Elite could bring down? The same girl that tore apart an entire air fleet with nothing but her bare hands and feet? The same girl that drove a path of destruction, all the way to the...Fire...Nation...capital...?" Xin Fu trailed off, staring up at what was definatly the most bizzare sight of his life; and, as always, audience was in complete agreement.

The Blind Bandit was curious as to why the whole arena, including her parents, suddenly fell dead silent; she was beginning to assume everyone had left in a hurry, until the girl sensed a mysterious gust of air pressing against the stage floor behind her, along with an erie hissing noise. She took a wild guess and speculated it to be from an air-scooter, and there was only one individual capable of such a technique...

"That you, Twinkle-toes? Well, what're the odds! Xin Foo Foo was just talkin' about ya. I'm glad you're here actually, cause' now I can settle that score with your little butt back in spring; ya know, when you ruined my record?"

Unfortunately, the young handicap was utterly oblivious to the enormous, black, metal upper-half hovering opposite of her. The span of its huge, shield-like arms were equivalent to the length of a full-grown kommodo rhino, with white claws and a strange green luminessence emmitting from its palms. It seemed to be propelling itself upwards via dual blue flames shooting out from its backside, along with some sort of tail to stabalize its flight. Its most erie feature was its single, green, squinting eye with a horizontal groove behind it, most likely for allowing the eye to shift left and right; along with strange, unfamiliar markings on the lower right side of its midsection, although if properly translated, would have most certainly read "E-101".

"...Hello? Are you sleep-scootering again?" Toph inquiried, turning toward her "friend".

Even futher strange, the legless creature extended both its arms at the unsuspecting Toph. Suddenly, a yellow ball of pure light manifested between its palms.

"...Aang?..."

"What's it doing?" Lao inquired.

Poppy, being the Bandit's mother, was the among the first in the stadium to comprehend the situation."TOPH, LOOK OUT!"

"What?" Toph queried.

Without warning, the monster released the ball, which barreled straight for the girl as if fired like an arrow.

Toph gasped, and quickly jerked up a rock slab at the last second. The entire stage was engulfed in fire-born smoke, then everything went black...

**Meanwhile, in the newly established "peace council" room at the aformentioned capitol...**

"What is wrong with you people?" demanded one Earth Kingdom commander,"The War is over! You have no right to use all of those factories and installations on our soil!"

"For your information, Commander..." began a Fire Nation admiral,"the Fire Nation requires these installations for sufficient energy resouces and proper transportation."

" 'Transportation'?" inquired another Earth Kingdom official,"I thought the airships were meant to partially solve your fuel problem. With all due respect, what excuse does the Fire Lord have for mining an estimated eight-percent more coal since Sozins Comet?"

"Our airships are inflated with steam, steam which originates from heat, which, for the moment, can only be generated by _burning coal!_ Besides, those are are merely _your_ Earth Kingdom estimations! Our national archive's statitics clearly state that..."

And that's the kind of dialogue that Fire Lord Zuko has been listen to since the War ended; and, frankly, the young monarch was deeply considering any other possible reasons on why his uncle turned down the throne. He couldn't completely blame Iroh, though; it was in fact Sokka's idea to pass a new law that required the Fire Lord to stay silent during council meetings until a simple ultimatum was derived out of the seemingly endless bickering for the Fire Lord to decide, which would then end the dicussion, and from were the scarred teen sat, said scenario was about to take place. That is to say, as long as no one changed the subject...

"And while we are at it, the Earth Kingdom charges far to much for produce. What is it with you people and cabbage?"

The Fire Lord released a frustrated breath, clamping his hand around his face. If only he'd of known of the precious silence he possessed as a banished prince...

Out of nowhere, the entrance drapes flapped open as a servant skidded into the room."WAIT! STOP THE MEETING! I HAVE AN URGENT MESSAGE!"

"Really?-I mean uhh...How dare you burst in here like that! You could really scare somebody!" Zuko complained, far to grateful to realize the level of disrespect the servant had just shown.

The messenger tried to catch his breath."A thousand apologies, my lord..." he panted, bowing in respect,"...An unofficial report has come from the Boiling Rock. The facility has just been..." he panted still,"...raided."

The flame-lite room went wide-eyed in a fraction of a second.

"Raided? By who?" The Fire Lord demanded.

The Fire Nation nobles threw a suspicious glare in the direction of their new Earth Kingdom colleagues.

"They're were no confirmations," the servant explained, still facing the floor,"What we do know is that apparently, the Boiling Rock was stormed by a band of elite soldiers, whom the trained personel were no match for. They might of even had their own airship..."

"Go on," the nearest official urged.

"...er...There is considerable damage to the inner walls and outer sections; no casulties so far. All inmates are accounted for, mi-..." the messenger haulted, then forcefully swallowed his fear,"...minus one..."

While one prisoner out of hundreds seemed more of a blemish than an emergency to most, Fire Lord Zuko knew full well that it might as well have been every other inmate that disappeared instead. A gallon of horror played all over his face, for no one had to inform the young monarch that the one in question was not simply some random theif, arsonist, or even a former terrorist: it was her.

"_Get out..._" he hissed, in a tone that would've caused even his father to turn his head.

"But, your majesty, you didn't even give him a chance to tell-"

"**GET OUT!**" The Fire Lord thundered as he arose to his feet, the flames suddenly surpassing his height.

The officials understood; everyone slowly walked (aside from the messenger, who fled for his life) out of the council room, leaving the enraged teen with nothing but the flames that surrounded him.

The monarch sunk to his knees, breathing heavily as he wiped the drips of sweat from his forehead. Even in her absence, she still manages to bring out the worst in him.

* * *

Katara and Aang were outside in the royal secret garden in the man-made pond performing their usual dual waterbending exercise; the turtleducks didn't seem to mind.

The young Avatar had grown significantly more sane since Mount Makapu's final eruption, what with Sokka's uncharacteristic reassurance that his waterbending had mysteriously vanished and that the universe was apparently fixing itself. This assurance proved effective enough to a degree where the Air Nomad was able to think about something of a lesser claimed importance than that of his vision; like the truth for example...

"Um, hey, Katara?" he began,"You know how I always say that every day should be treated like a holiday?"

"Uh, sure, I think I remember something like that..." the young master replied, focusing on the large circleing drip she was partialy controlling.

"Well, today might be kind of one of those days that should be...er... extra-treated?"

"Why? Is today some sort of Air Nomad holiday?" Katara inquired.

"Well, yeah, I guess-well, no, I mean, it's not like one o' those, ya know, huge celebrations, it's more like, kind of a-I guess, more of a local kind of-well, it's a bit smaller than that, actually-unless, well, if you know alot o' people, that is. See, it's really more to those, I think, kinda' personal traditions where-well, it's not exactly Air Nomad-exclusive, I mean, everybody has one-er-once a year would be a-...Look what I'm trying to tell you is-"

Suddenly, the bended drip plopped back into its origin, slightly disturbing the turtleducks.

"Today's your _birthday_?" Katara vocalized rather loudly.

The Avatar immediately shot his hands toward her as a sign to lower her voice."_Sssshhhh_! _Will you keep it down?_ _The whole world doesn't have to know!_" he yell/whispered.

"And why shouldn't it?" the waterbender inquired,"You, the Avatar, the protector and overseer of the entire planet has just turned thirteen! How much greater symbolism for a new beginning could there be other than the knowledge that you're actually growing up?" she demanded.

"I know where you're getting to, Katara," the protector and overseer explained,"but don't you think we've all had enough jubilation for one season? A couple days ago, we were gallevanting aross the map pretty much just telling everybody how awsome we are. Maybe it's time to actually start _healing _the world of its wounds rather than just mask them all with pretty rugs."

"That's easy for you to say," Katara criticized,"you're one of the only two people that _didn't _live their whole lives through a century of war..."

"One of four, actually..."

"What?"

"Er...it's not important; move on..."

"...Well, my point is, don't you at least want a present or something?" she asked.

"Why do I need any?" he counter-asked,"I already have the best gift an Avatar could want: the world is at complete tranquility," Aang explained, gazing into the clouds,"Thanks to our efforts, now pretty much anybody can be pretty much anybody's friend; and not only that: the celestial imbalance I sensed has apparently been rebalanced, atleast according to what Sokka told me..." he finished, turning to his safe-to-call girlfriend, only to be met with an expression of total awe.

"...What? It's okay to listen to Sokka once in a while..."

"...Giant...metal...cylinder with arms..." Katara impulsively whimpered.

"I'm not catching you..." the Avatar replied a second before a large, leather mitten on a cord shot down from behind him, gripping around the waterbender's mid-section, and then yanking her back with a scream as fast as it came.

Not enough time to gasp, Aang spun around to see his teacher-friend in the left arm of a big, green, legless monster that vaguely fit Katara's description, floating atop the roof._"What in Yue's name?"_

The thing lowered Katara to eye-level_"__ scanning ... target aquired: requesting immediate extraction...__" _it analysed, pointing its free palm at her.

"Wait, what are you..." the girl attempted before being sprayed with a puff of purple mist, losing consciousness almost instantly.

"LET HER GO!" Aang roared, spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees and sending a liquid missle straight for its head; however, in the blink of an eye, the thing vanished in an almost imperceptible flash of bluish-green with his girlfriend altogether, the projectile slamming into the roof shingles instead, followed by an abrupt silence...

"...k...Katara...?" the pre-teen asked weakly, his last glimmer of optimism throwing its voice out before fully embracing the truth: she was gone.

"KATAARAAAAAA!"

* * *

At first, total blackness; a moment after, colors gradually unblurred into a nearly clear image. She groaned as she regained consciousness.

As soon as Katara had, she hauled herself up from the covers of the apparent bed she was sleeping in, and looked around. The room she was in was poorly lit, with only one small dim light off the ceiling, so any details were at first difficult to make out. From where she sat, the waterbender osberved a completely metal room with one, big, hatchless door to her right, and no windows - hense the darkness.

"Where am I?" Katara asked rhetoricly, assuming she was alone; she soon found out she wasn't

_"Guuugh... Who's talking...?" _grumbled a familiar, smaller voice.

"Toph?" Katara asked, shifting to her left to barely see another bed to her left, its blankets repeatedly unleveled.

"Sugar Queen? What the heck are you doin' in my ro_ooo-oof!_" the blind girl grunted as she tumbled off of the bed, landing painfully on the metal floor. This of course caused a series of echoing vibrations, inadverdantly enabling the bandit to sense the labrinth of endless hallways below her. A subtle _"woah" _escaped her lips; she then gained the awkward sensation this wasn't her room.

Katara rushed to her friend, helping her up."Toph, where are we?" the Water Tribe girl asked literaly.

"How should I know? I just woke up!" replied the Earth Kingdom girl.

Out of nowhere, the room rang with an elongated moan. The two turned their attention to a third bed opposite of thhe one Katara had awaken from. They approached the bed, and (Katara) looked down upon a pale-skinned, dark-haired unfamilair girl around her age. The girl slowly open her eyes and gazed up at brown-haired, dark-skinned girl hanging above her."...w-What happened?" she mumbled meekly, looking as if attempting to recall a familiar face.

"er-Oh, sorry," Katara apologized,"I wish I could tell you but, I guess I'm just as confused as you are..."

To the young waterbender, this mysterious girl seemed harmless enough, but then again so does everyone else in a morning daze; for just as Katara had finshed her apology, Toph ran the voice through her head until an instant match was derived...

"Um, Katara... MOVE!" she shouted, jerking her friend to the floor a mere half-second before nearly being consumed within a plume of blue fire, which incinerated Katara's bed in place of her.

Katara, now partialy lying on Toph, stared up in horror at the girl, somehow learning a powerful metapor in the process: it was Azula; she simply wasn't wearing any makeup.

**Meanwhile, in Chief Hakoda's apartment...**

The renound sword maker and sword master Piandao was taking time out of his routine to give his latest apprentice, Sokka, proper lesson in calligraphy via canvas. Chief Hakoka was utilizing his own free time to witness the lesson while seated on the couch, trying a bowl of eelhound soup (and deeply regretting it; this endeavor was simply not to offend his son's qutie clearly Fire Nation teacher). Suki was also on the couch, brushing Momo's fur.

"Remember, Sokka," Piandao intsructed,"Don't focus on what you're painting right now, focus on what you're _about _to paint. Imagine a whole image, and then create it; creativity is a core element on the battlefeild. Concentrate, cancel out all other distractions: it's just you, and the canvas..."

As expected, Aang literally blasted into the room."KATARA'S BEEN KIDNAPPED BY SOME KIND OF METALLIC SPIRIT MONSTER!"

Naturally, no one was affected by the nomad's outburst; that is, not until Sokka spoke up...

"Ya know, I can't understand how you're still freaking out; I already told... METALLIC WHAT?" the teen screamed, spinning around and accidentally whipping a glop of paint onto Momo's back, causing the lemur to go berserk and knock over Hakoda's soup, tip over the canvas, and soar out the window, followed by silence...

"...Now, you see how yelling upsets the mood of a room?" the sword master calmly lectured.

* * *

"What's going on? Where are we?" demanded the young waterbender,_"Thank you, by the way..."_ she murmured to Toph.

"Eh, it's a living..." replied Toph.

The former princess was frozen in her tension for a moment, but sighed as she let her fireing arm go limp."Of course," she muttered,"Just go right ahead and assume that I have somehow kidnapped you out of the clear blue sky, and imprisoned you within some random fortress; I mean, why else would I be trapped in here to, right?" she inquired sarcasticly.

Katara was momentarily thrown off guard by her comment, logic sinking in a second and a half later,"...Oh, well sorry, I didn't-"

"Well, you should've," Azula snapped,"There are other bad people in the world besides me, believe ot not..." the firebender lay back down on her bed, turning over to the walls.

"Was it not _you_ who tried to blow Katara's head off thirty seconds ago?" Toph interjected.

"Oh, that; I thought I was having that nightmare again, only in the dream, you try to kill me, and that's when I realized my pillow is actually Uncle's bare stomach, and then he starts telling me how he's going brew me into tea and..."

"I think I'munna' stop you right there..." the Blind Bandit interrupted, having gained far more information than she'd hoped.

"Well you could atleast apologize..." Katara mumbled loudly.

"Are you refering to the dream or my trying to kill you?" Azula inquired for confirmation.

"Uhh, I just had an epiphany:.." Toph vocalized,"If the Fire Nation didn't capture us," she pointed to Azula,"and I know it wasn't the Earth Kingdom," she gestures to herself,"theeen, where are we, exactly?"

* * *

"Aright, let me get this straight," Hakoda began,"you were out in the Fire Lord's garden practicing waterbending with my daughter, when, out of nowhere, she was kidnapped by a...machine?"

"No, not a machine," the Avatar explained one last time,"it was a spirit that looked like a machine. Machines don't just get up and walk by themselves!"

"Didn't you just say the machine had no legs?" Suki inquired.

"IT WASN'T A MACHINE!"

"But it did kidnapp Katara?" Piandao demanded for confirmation.

Aang allowed the river to flow once more, resting his arms on his lap, sighing,"Yes..." he confirmed,"It took her, and I was too overcome by my own shock do anything about it," he mourned, placing his face into his palms,"I can save whole cities from peril, but I can't even keep track of one girl..."

The rest of the group had only silence to comfort him.

"Well, it's not like the case with me and Hei Bei was any different..." Sokka reminded his best friend. Now that the former waterbender thought about it, the case with him and the _other_ metallic entity was quite similar in concept as well...

"Yeah..." the last airbender subtly agreed,"But that was to make a point; Hei Bei was angry because his forest was destroyed. So what're we doing wrong now? I saved the world without having to kill anyone, the Fire Nation is good, all my abilities are fully realized..."

"Technicly, no," Sokka interrupted,"you still need to learn metalbending, lightningbending, and not to mention blo-"

"WHO CARES?" Aang shouted in frustration,silencing Sokka,"My mission is accomplished. The balance has been restored; threre's no reason for the spirits to intervene, it's just..." the troubled boy paused, at a loss for words. He eventually released the oxygen in his lungs,"...We need to look further into this," he announced to the group, getting up from his seat and facing them,"Katara's somewhere in trouble, and we can't stop the search no matter what, not for any other emergency."

With timing so perfect, it was almost like a sitcom, Fire Lord Zuko violently reopened the entrance with his foot,"AZULA'S ESCAPED FROM THE BOILING ROCK!"

In stark contrast to the Avatar's entrance, the group became wide-eyed with horror.

"Oh, and apparently, it's Aang's birthday," he added quickly.

* * *

"Let's have a look-see..." Toph began, in a tone reminisent of a dentist as she rubbed her palms together. The Bandit preceded to press her hands against the wall east of the supposed door. As she did so, Katara and Azula observed her expressions, which appeared to be indicating more bewilderment with each passing second, constantly mumbling such phrases as _"wow..." _or _"wait, what?..."_ as time went by, almost as if the blind girl was engaging in comunication with an some sort of ethereal figure; it failed to improve the former princess's mood.

"Oh, for Ran's sake, is that all you can say?" Azula inquired, filled to the brim with irritation,"I mean really, if you can't come across anything other than more confusion, you might as well take your hand off that wall and go back to bed!" she snapped, though the source of annoyance was far to engrossed in her activity to hear her.

"She's doing her best," Katara defended,"You should be thankful she can bend metal at all."

"And why, pre-tell, should I be thankful for something that _doesn't rear results_?"

"Oh, whatever! It's not like you have the power to do anything about it, anyway..." the young waterbender replied, causticly dissmissing the young firebender as she walked over to her friend._"Any luck?"_

"I wish you could see it," the human metal detector started quietly,"It just goes on and on. Endless halls, all sorts of pipes and wires and little parts moving by themselves; _by themselves_, Katara. And if _that's _not enough, this whole place, as far as I see it - and that's pretty darn far - is...how do I put it into words? Buzzing? Yeah, buzzing! Everything is buzzing with some kinda' energy."

" 'Buzzing with'...? I'm sorry, Toph, I don't think I..."

"I know I'm making less sense as I go, but 'buzzing' is the closest word I can think of," the just as confused earthbender explained.

"Are there any other prisoners here besides us?" Katara wondered.

"No, there's no one else; in fact, as crazy as I already sound, I'm pretty sure we're the only living things in this place..."

At this news, even Azula had to get up and stare at the girl."No one else? That's impossible! If we're the only ones here, then who's monitoring all of those machines you were talking about? Who's running the facility?" the former princess demanded.

"I...don't know..."

A haze of anxiety fell upon the three girls; but, as usuall, the earthbender broke the erie silence she created.

"...But we're gonna find out..." she declared, in true Earth Kindom fashion, proudly treking toward the speculated entrance; the young champion rooted her feet against the floor, and with a mighty roar, pounded her fists into the door... immediately causing the girl to balk away in pain, chanting "ow!" with a short frequency.

"Well that was forseeable..." was Azula's instant reaction.

"Toph, are you alright?" Katara asked, dashing to her friend and checking for bruises.

"Odd, I thought metal was simply a purified form of earth; isn't that how you can see through it?" the firebender teased, gaining another glared from the waterbender.

"..._ow_...First of all..." Toph began, illuminating the former princess between her throbs,"I don't-_ow_- 'see' through metal or earth, I-_ouch_-sense the vibrations-_eep_- that travel through the earth or metal-_hurt_-which I can decipher-_pain_-into a clear, three-dimentional shape..._whew! worst part over..._Second, to anwer your question, yes, metal is just purified earth; it's just that, apparently, this particular metal is a bit purer than what I'm used to. Otherwise, my knuckles would be broken right now,"she finished, walking back over to the door with far less confidence, and feeling it.

"Yep, it'll definately be a while before I get the swing o' this door; probably be like learning how to metalbend all over again," she confirmed.

The other two seemed somewhat dissappointed; it took a second before the full situation sank in.

"So...we're trapped in here?" Azula inquired for confirmation, though she didn't care for an answer,"Fine, I suppose as long as I don't have to do anything..." the former princess reverted to her previous position on the bed, inadverdantly imitating Mai with her pesimism.

The waterbender decided to do so as well, sitting on the bed Toph woke up in (as Katara's bed was still clearly on fire). As Katara watched her friend search for impurties in the door, she couldn't help but wonder just where she was. According to what the Bandit had just explaned to her, they were all alone in some sort of abandoned base with no other signs of life aside from machines being propelled by a mysterious "buzzing" force; but what kind of force buzzes? But more importantly, Aang is with little doubt looking for her; if the three girls have no idea where they are, how on earth would Aang find them?

* * *

Appa soared through the sky, carrying the group to the Boiling Rock to find answers behind the recent raid; though Chief Hakoda and Master Piandao chose to stay at the capitol, the palace put on high alert in case of a possible invasion.

"I'm confused; what happened to not stopping the search no matter what?" Sokka inquired.

"There's gotta be a connection between Katara's capture and Azula's escape; the Boiling Rock was invaded on the _same day _Katara was kidnapped, there's no way this is a coincidence " the young Avatar explaned.

"Right, so, this...metal spirit thing...what'd it look like exactly?" the warrior inquired.

"I already told you: it was like a big, floating cylinder with arms but no legs," Aang re-explained.

"Oh, I know all that, I'm just looking for some details like maybe height, width, color; everything's got a color like uhh...red for example, it wasn't red, was it?" Sokka queried rather directly, leaning awkwardly close to the Air Nomad.

"What?...No, it was green but...why is that important right now?" the airbender demanded.

"Color makes all the difference," Zuko suddenly followed up.

"How's that?" Suki asked.

"Even before the War, the Fire Nation has always been the most advanced of the for nations in terms of engineering. Think about it, what would the masses think if there was so much as a rumor that the Southern Water Chief's daughter was captured with a _red _device? You know, as in: red like the Fire Nation?"

A chill enveloped the group's bodies at the prospect of the Fire Lord's implication.

"Wow...I guess we should count the world lucky it was green; thanks for catching on, Sokka..." the Kyoshi Warrior gratified.

"Uhh-Well it goes to show you, you always gotta...er... stay on your toes! Heh heh heh..." the swordsmen chuckled sheepishly.

The group tried their best not to stare at the teen curiously, wondering in unison if the lesson learned was actually Sokka's intent.

* * *

_"Four sea-sons: Fooouuur loves..."_

Katara rested atop the cover of the bed; her arms cross, and her face drenched with irritation - an expression the young waterbender wasn't normally aquainted with; though the girl was thoroughly justified, as Azula had now been singing _"Four Seasons" _- supposedly one of General Iroh's favorate songs - for roughly thirty-one minutes in an awfully dull tone, as if backoning the nearest hard object to her forehead. Any average-tempered individual might have gone off after the first few minutes, which would imply the Water Tribe girl had accomplished a record by not saying anything until now...

"...Would... you... please... **SHUT. UP!**" Katara finally roared, silencing the former princess.

"...I was just singing..." the firebender replied quietly.

"Yeah, 'just singing'; 'just singing' for about _half an hour!_" the waterbender reminded,"I mean, isn't it enough that I'm trapped in here with someone who's out for my blood?"

"She was just singing, Katara, there's no reason to go overboard about it," Toph interjected, still feeling the door.

"You're not actually standing up for her, are you?" Katara inquired,"I thought you hated noise because it interfers with your bending!"

"What? I never said that," the Bandit contradicted,"in fact, more vibrations help me see clearer, so to speak. And besides, Azula wasn't making any noise, she was _singing_; and if ya don't like singing, you could've just said so."

"I most certainly do _not _not like singing!" Katara defended herself, shooting up from her/Toph's bed, "In fact, I love _'Four Seasons',_ it's the way _she_ sings it that makes it sound annoying..."

As the Water Tribe girl ranted, the Earth Kingdom girl gave the door one more good double jabb; and to her over all relief, created a large dent."...Hey, I got it!" she beamed.

"Oh, I get it, so it's just _me _you don't like?" Azula inquired, completely missing Toph's announcement.

"Umm, Guys?"

"_Ooh!_ Ya think so? Just because I date the the most hospitable namby pamby on the planet doesn't neccessarily mean I'm willing to be best friends with the same psycho that almost killed him..." Katara retorted.

"_Hellooo_. I just solved the door problem? The one that's keeping us in here?"

" 'Namby pamby'?" Azula repeated,"Don't you so much as _mention_ 'namby pamby' in my presence! And I'm not just talking about Ty Lee, I'm talking about Ty _Lo_, Ty _Lei_, Ty _La_, Ty _Lu_, I-I can even remember the other ones! It's no wonder that poor girl left for the circus; it's complete madness!"

Toph sighed."Look, I'm not waitin' for this to end; just please remember to use the me-sized hole I just made when you two're done?" she suggested, exiting through said hole.

_"Hole?"_ the bickering benders inquired simultaneously, turning to the Toph-sized exit. Both girls darted for the hole at the same time, getting stuck half-way through and pushing and grunting as each attempted to get out first, both popping out and tripping onto the floor.

* * *

After a long, anxious flight, the group were now sailling over the ring of earth that surrounded the Boiling Rock, presumably the most impregnable prison on the planet - in or out - all the more reason to be anxious to know what military force could acheive what the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes could not.

"Uh, guys, I know I'm a little late on the mark but, are we still sure this is a good idea?" the team's chief skeptic queried; Appa entering the cloud of steam.

"What are you talking about?" Zuko demanded,"How else are we supposed to find out what happened to the Boiling Rock if we don't actually go in there?"

"I know, I know," Sokka replied," I just keep thinking what would happen if whoever invaded the place is still, ya know, there, and that message you got was actually a trap..."

"I don't think will have to worry about that..." Suki announced nervousely, pointing out in the distance.

The group faced forward, expecting to see a prison complex in ruins, but as far as the outside walls were concerned, the place was virtually unscathed; the other side on the other hand, as the children soon found out, was completely devastated. The court yard was riddled with debris and scorch marks, several watch towers collapsed; the inner walls were perforated like a prairie hog field, and Zuko could've sworn there was once a giant harpoon ballista where a crude hole lay, the battlement probably boiling at the bottom of the lake right now...

The staff was still clearly active, substituting repaires for the less extreme damages.

Appa landed on the gondola port, two parralel rows of guards immedietely assembling to greet them.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting: we're pretty high up in the world, aren't we?" the Southern Water Prince realized as the Fire Lord, Kyoshi Warrior captian, and Avatar climbed off the last flying bison in existence.

A man appeared at the end of the double row."Thank you for responding to my message, my lord," the man said in the humblest of tones, naturaly bowing down,"It is a great honor that you would be willing to personally..."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too-What happened here?" said lord interrupted, not in the slightest interested in formalites.

"And where's the warden?" Sokka wondered,"I've never actually got a chance to gloat; ya' know, since I'm among the only few ever to successfully escape this place? I've even made up my own special gloat-dance, you wanna see?" he beamed, assuming a series of classic disco poses.

"Technicallly, Sokka, you were never an actual inmate, so you don't count," Suki explained.

"Details, details- where is he?" the warrior demanded, still dancing.

"Actually, the warden's no longer here," the man explained,"he could never really recover from the loss of his record, and decided to jump off a high place..."

The group froze, including Sokka in mid-crump.

Aang couldn't find his lungs "...you mean he..."

"What?" he paused, soon after realizing how his words could be misread,"Ohhhh-er- of course not! What I meant to say is that he recently retired and is probably living with his family. I'm the new warden, the 'high place I was refering to," the new warden hastily explained, pointing at himself at the end.

The teens let out sighs of relief.

"Oh...heh heh...of course..." the Fire Lord giggled, relieved of the possibility that he had played a part in suicide,"...But seriously, what happened? This place looks like it was in the path of a tsunami!"

"Right...that's what you came here for..." the new warden grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck "...Well, there's really no rational way of explaining this; and I pray, my lord, that you believe me; this ordeal is just as serious as it is unbelievable..."

"Well spit it out already! Who invaded this place?" the Avatar demanded loudly.

"I-it wasn't so much as _who_ but more of a_ what_; and the_ what_ in happens to be..." he took a deep breath "...a giant, mechanical dog."

If the group were auditioning for a role at that very moment in which they would portray flabergasted teens, they would've won an award.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Toph peeped immaturely as the girls paced down another dark, seemingly endless hallway, lit by Azula via firebending, Katara at the front. The three had their heads hung in exaustion, not really paying attion to where they were going: they were all certain after five minutes of not running into a random guard, sentry, any other living organism that the building was truly abandoned.

"I don't know; _you're _the one with the feet," Azula replied.

"Well, my feet say we're lost. This is knda' the part where one of you sees a special shortcut; ya know, with your eyes?"

The firebender moaned."What's the point of being able to pick up vibrations from any given direction if you don't even know where you're going?"

"Hey! I know a heck of a lot more about what's going on around me than any instrument you got!" the earthbender cried, throwing her finger in the former princess's direction,"I can spring ambushes, counter an attack before it's performed, tell when people are lying..."

"Minus anybody with an ounce of self-control..." Azula finished,"Really, if you're as perceptive as you make yourself out to be, I fail to see why you can't simply look into someone's eyes and...oh, that's right; _nevermind..._" she remarked in way that Toph didn't even want to respond.

"Was that really neccessary?" Katara inquired.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Why is it that you absolutely have to step on any one in the same room as you and make them feel useless?" the waterbender demanded.

"Well, I don't how else I'm to supposed to win an arguement; especially between an enemy..." the firebender replied.

" _'Enemy'_ ?" Katara repeated,"Can you hear yourself? The War is over! Aang I understand, but how could you hold anything against Toph? You barely know her!"

The former princess released an overwelmingly condesending sigh."I wouldn't expect _you_ to understand; you having lived your entire life within an impaired society founded upon substance and being totally devoid of any form of of political establishment whatsoever..." she patronized, thoroughly geared for a spontaneious burst of fury from her target.

While preasure was indeed building up within the young waterbender, the "savage" chose to vent her frustration in a more passive form."Your right," she humbly consigned,"Compared to you, my people's education is just above the training of pets. I guess that's why it'll forever escape me why the third greatest firebender on Earth could ever - during Sozin's Comet - be over-powered and out-smarted by a random fourteen-year old girl who didn't even expect to survive beyond that point and, the following morning, disposed of like a pile of komodo meneur by her **own nation**. It shall eternally elude me..."

Dead silence...

"...dang... wait, that actually happened?" Toph inquired, having never knew how she and Zuko defeated Azula. The Bandit had assumed it was a combined effort, but this? This was just...unfair.

As expected, the blind-sided firebender was frozen in her tracks; Katara realized this as their only source of light dimmed with he movement. The waterbender turned to her.

"Not as playfull as you thought it was, huh?" Katara taunted, though Azula was still motionless. After a second or two of further silence, the Water Tribe girl continued her trek."Well, you had it coming; at least now you know what it's like on the receiving e_eehh!-_" she yelped as she tripped over an unseen object "_ow_..."

Katara slowly turned on her back to view the cause of her fall: a disembodied head.

The girl gasped/sreamed the instant she laid eyes on it, shooting back onto her feet and backing away a few feet. "HEAD!" she involuntarily announced.

"It's a head?" Azula inquired rather calmly,"Interesting; I was trying to make it out seconds before...I'm sorry, but could you repeat your sentence from earlier?"

"You didn't hear what Katara said?" Toph asked,"That was by far the coolest thing that ever came out of her mouth!"

"Who cares what I said? I just tripped over a _human head!_ Ew!" Katara muttered, frantically whiping off her ankles.

"Wait a minute..." the blind one mumbled, walking to and picking it up.

"EW!" Katara protested.

"Calm down, Suger Queen, it's made of metal," Toph explained.

"Made of...? Let me see that..." Azula asserted, as she was apparently the only girl out of the three with some degree of memory just before being kidnapped. She paced over to the object, allowing her blue flame to expand for a brighter picture.

As she did so, another object caught the corner of the eyes of both herself and Katara. The fire and waterbenders gaze traveled beyond the "head" until, finally, they came upon a sight that made their eyes grow so wide, they were almost circular.

"What're you guys gawkin' about n-...oh..." she uttered, shifting her right foot slightly for a perspective of her own.

As far as the flame luminated, the rest of the hallway was littered with a massacre of machinery. The three hesitantly continued down the wide hallway, hoping to find an end to the destruction; though they only found more and more as they walked.

There were all sorts of ravaged mechanizations, parts, and pieces of parts everywhere; it was a challenge for the girls not to step on any of them, though Toph had little difficulty. The realization that got to them the most, was that the majority of fragmented components in the dark tunnel, to a degree, bared a stomach churning resemblence to human appendages. Arms, legs, heads, and even some weapons of all shapes and sizes; from appliances around the stature of pumkinapples to gargantuous giants evisorated from the inside out.

"Look at all this," Katara squirmed,"I feel queezy almost..."

"If you think you're on the verge of it now," Azula began in a similiar tone,"what do you think destroyed them all?"

The girls attained a whole new sense of fear.

"..._Man, where __are__ we?_" Toph inquired, though under her breath as not to awaken some kind of metal-eating beast that might still be near by.

* * *

"Okayokay," Sokka began,"What if, instead of a giant dog, it was a _regular-sized_ dog covered in armor, and they laid the place with an elaborate set of mirriors over-night while everyone was asleep in order to produce one big optical illusion, and they used some kind of customised horn to make all the roaring sounds..." the group grunted in frustration.

The new warden was leading the teens through one of the prison's huge corridors, which had also sustained a bit of damage. According to multiple eye-witnesses, the giant dog was merely a distraction while a band of much smaller metallic creatures stormed the building and captured Princess Azula, or _Former_ Princess as Zuko corrected aggressively, then vanished without a trace. These creatures were discribed as being atleast six feet tall with white and black armor, mostly white; flat, wide heads with a single, luminous, horizontal blue light where eyes should be; long, slender legs with inverted joints, simliar to that of a bird's legs; they all had miniature cannons in place of forearms, ones that released continuous rounds of hot pellets that flew with lethal velocity: so fast they were comepletely invisible, and on the right arm, much larger cannons that fired explosive rockets that, according to a few inmates, were able to maneuver through air on their own; and strange attachments with two dish-shaped mechanisms that hung just above thier back that allowed the creatures to fly around themselves.

This general discriptsion seemed to severely unnerve Sokka, who managed to mask his inward horror with an endless series of rational speculations that sounded almost as proposterous as the story they were given.

"Sokka, that's even stupider than the last one," Aang comented,"If it was all just an illusion, then how do explain the destruction?"

"Uuhhhh...an equaly elaborate set of bombs?"

Another groan from the teens.

"Sokka, just give it up," Suki pleaded.

"Okayokayokay, how'bout this?" the relentless warrior theorized,"What if there was no dog at all; instead, it was a really big _puppet_, that was hung and controlled from the enemy's airship?"

The team couldn't take much more.

"Ugh, why is that I have the feeling that the War would've end a lot sooner if Sokka just held an interview with my father?" Zuko wondered, messaging his sinus cavity.

"Well, those strings must of been pretty long, because no ever actually saw an airship..." the warden replied.

The group looked at him.

"No airship?" Aang inquired,"Then how did they get in here? There's no way it was by boat..."

The warden sighed; he forgot to mention this part."I'm afraid it's exactly the way everyone else has been saying it..."

The children slowed down in their pace. As every witness, prisoner and prison guard, explained the event, they all agreed that the creatures had appeared out of nowhere, did whatever they came to do, and left in the same instant as they appeared, with the lack of any prominent means of entry or exit.

"Are you saying that," Suki began,"they literally just manifested themselves, destroyed the place, then dissappeared into thin air?"

The warden nodded,"...both times in a breif flash of light; greenish I think..."

"_Just like Katara_..." the young Avatar mumbled,stopping comepletely,"I knew it! There is a connection!" he shouted, walking off and leaning on the rail.

The group threw a conserned glance toward the boy, even the warden.

"It would also explain why the outside is clean while anything behind was anninilated," Zuko realized," As crazy as it sounds, there's no other explanation..."

Sokka raised his finger.

"No. Other. _**Explanation...**_" the Fire Lord slowly warned, effectively causing the thinker to gradually lower his most precious tool.

* * *

The girls continued their journey through the mysterious building, barely recovering from the sight they had seen. They tried to convince themselves they'd seen stranger; but then again, so did the last group that was up here...

Suddenly, Toph halted. The other girls turned to her.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked, trying not to think that they were about run into something that was still alive. That notion faded quickly, as the waterbender saw the big smile on the Bandit's face.

"I found a way out!" she announced.

Azula spun around with surprise,"Seriously?"

"It has to be; I'm not sensing anything beyond that point! Com'on!" she explained, dashing away.

The fire and waterbenders followed in close persuit.

* * *

Zuko joined his nomadic friend against the rail, partily in an attempt to comfort him. "You do know there's no way spirits would need an army to overtake an earthly prison complex, let alone one made of metal," the Fire Lord quietly reminded the boy with out looking at him,"Last time I checked, metal is something that _Man_ invented..."

"That would have to mean they weren't spirits," Aang replied, glancing at some holes in the wall behind him,"Spirits can do a lot more than this..." his voice contained some angst.

"And if my sister and Katara weren't kadnapped by spirits, that means there not in the Spirit World."

* * *

The girls packed up their speed, hoping to find the exit they were searching for.

* * *

"In other words," Zuko continued," even if the ones behind this did just dissappear, they would have to _reappear_ somewhere else; a special rondevous point they can go to to collect on their victory... an island, a cave...a vessel of some sort..."

It was at that very second that the young Avatar had recalled his vision from nearly a week ago, where his predecessor had used the exact same words.

The airbender clasped his hands around the rail, making a clapping noise and gaining everyone's attention."I know where they are!"

* * *

The doorway was in sight: they were almost there.

In the heat of the moment Azula rushed pass the other two, leaped up, and with a somersalt, jabbed both her legs forward, creating a huge fireball that blew the door open, forcing it to buckle upwards like curtians exposed to wind, succeeded by silence.

The girls slowly entered through, into a spacious room made mostly of glass, and just outside the window, was the night sky.

A smile of releif eveloped the fire and waterbender's faces...before they realized one crucial flaw in logic: the night sky was in _front _of them. Their gaze eventually slipped down toward the soft bluish glow beneath the glass floor that provided light for the room, attaining their most horrified expressions yet, their already exausted minds questioning reality itself simply in order to find any at all basis of perspective.

Toph had a similiar sensation as well, sensing a void of infinite nothing below the glass under her feet as well as beyond the window she faced; although her reaction was far less hysterical:"Okay, I give up, WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?" she fumed.

"That's just it, Toph..." Katara replied with no emotion whatsoever, her blue irises quivering,"...we're not _on _Earth..." she revealed as she stared down at the planet itself...from one of the countless balconies aboard Space Colony Ark.

* * *

**Aaaaaand there's three whole months down the drain...*sigh*...I'm taken **_**way**_** too long with this...**

**Sonic: Well, it took TeamFourStar the whole summer to make their latest episode, which can now be watched on their website. *signiture thumbs up***

**...What was that?**

**Sonic: What are you talking about?I'm just inferring that DragonBall Z Abridged: Episode 25 is now available to watch at Team Four Star and YouTube...**

**There it is again. Are you making an endorsment or something?**

**Sonic: Maybe you'll find out at www. teamfourstar .com! Check it today! *wink***

**Seriously, man, stop it; you're creepin' me out...**

**Please Review!**


	6. The Space Station

**Ah'ight, people, it's time to get down to business...**

**Sonic: Wasn't that the point of the last chapter?**

**Actually, that was the setup, **_**nooow**_** it's knitty-gritty time.**

**Sonic: Don't you mean "gritty-**

**Whatever, can we please make this quick? I actually have fans reading this and I don't want to keep them waiting like I did with the previous chapter.**

**Sonic: Well, if you'd stop worryin' about all the theactrics and just convert to script form, you wouldn't have this time problem.**

**And risk getting suspended? Heck no. **

**Sonic: *shrugs* Alright, you wanna spend Thanksgiving Vacation writin' this thing, you go right ahead... *leaves the room***

***snort* Like he's got anything better to do than providing a humorus framework for the story...speaking of the story...er... On with it! (And by the way, this first scene was based off a draft my brother wrote in an attempt to help with my writer's block; enjoy.)**

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Four:**

**The Space Station**

It had been silent in the room for hours. Nothing broke this silence, say for occasional bleeps, clicks, and hums of machinery. It stayed from excitment a room like this, with nothing to do but watch something uncannily close to a disturbing mix between a bad episode of Survior and the History channel, you'd get pretty bored after a while...just sitting there, watching, with palm resting on your chin, which now felt a little too warm and moist; it took him hours just to find a chair in this accursed satillite - really, who builds a massive computer terminal with no chair? It had been different before this little project, different when he was actually out in the field, when he towered above every natural thing, when he dominated, and even when the good doctor was beaten by that little rodent time and time again, he still domninated. He never gave up, never quit and he never would. He'd have to die first, whether by age or by defeat; well, he wasn't dead yet and he hadn't been beaten yet either

But now, as he sat there in the chair, his legs almost numb, he nearly began to regret the latest, greatest and without a doubt most well thought out plan he had ever (and most likely ever will be) conceived. Over the past week he'd been here, he kept trying to find an excuse to get up and out of his seat. Sometimes, he'd check maintence on the computer logs, maybe got himself some water, try going to the rest room even when he didn't have to, or maybe he paced randomly.

There were actually many times he wanted to engage, but he'd observed these primitive people. They were by no means civilized, at least by his opinion, especially with their steam powered technology.

Steam power... so archaic... the doctor did, however, find the concept of "bending" the elements to one's will to be rather interesting. He was still in the process of determining whether this mystyrious art was a biological feature of the species or an incredibly ancient practice perfected over millenia. He had eventually tossed aside the idea that he might be able to perform the neccessary techniques himself; not that he would ever need to, not with a mind like his.

This peculiar civilization bared an erie resemblance to ancient China, Japan, and other old far eastern eras, though at the same time, possesed a capacity for modern western slang. They seemed to very spiritual, very rural, not relying on much science of any kind. And it wouldn't take a scientist of his intellect to figure out what would happen if they new of his presence...

They would probably scream, run, believing his robots to be some incarnation of their mythological beasts. They might actually try to defend themselves; it wouldn't be too hard to mount a resistance with that bending ability of theirs - this "avatar" could pose a serious inconveniance...

Or, perhaps they'll just submit to his technological wonders and worship him as a god...now, he admired the thought of that... then again, if the whole planet made a ruccus, the element of surprise would be a lost hope completely, shot down before it even started. No, not just yet

So he'd been patient, stalking these primates, getting close, but not too close, moving his stealthy droids exactly where he wanted them, when he wanted them. Of course, it wouldn't matter how much information on this new world he would gain if he never found that jewel: the very same jewel among six others that he had spent his young adult life searching for, and somehow managed to always slip from his grasp no matter how many times he caught a hold of them. Blasted mutant, thinks it can just break out from it's restraints and snatch the stone when he wasn't looking.

He'll find the beast, and even if he doesn't, there's still the equally genius backup plan the doctor was forced to cook up...

His thoughts were unexpectedly interrupted by the sound of the entrance door jerked upward via hydrolics, followed by the apparant footsteps of three light-weighted individuals and the distinct metallic stomping of an above medium-sized robot behind them, though he did not turn around, having a good idea what was behind him, making him grin even wider.

_"__Doctor, the prisoners were caught attempting to escape the space station; they demanded to speak with the current director of the facilty.__"_ the Egg Fighter explaned.

" 'Space station' ?" Toph repeated,"You mean station... in SPACE?"

_Oh yeah, I got 'em right where I want 'em..._

"Well, what do you know, I was just on the verge of thinking about you..." Dr. Eggman began slowly, revolving around and revealing himself to the fire, water, and earthbenders.

* * *

"MY SISTER'S IN OUTER _WHERE_?" Sokka exclaimed.

The teens were by this time heading back to the capitol city, realizing just how vulnerable it might be. The trip in total was clearly taking its toll on time itself, as the sun luminated the orange sky to Appa's right. Aang payed no mind to this, since he was by now aware the whole world was potentially in danger once more; he wasn't about to stop for any kind of rest.

"She has to be; I had that vision for a reason, and this is it," the Avatar explained, shaking his head,"I knew something was wrong; the universe just doesn't have a hole torn threw it and resew itself, it's never that easy..."

A breif silence followed.

"...Do you think she's okay? I mean, where ever Katara is right now, Azula's gotta be with her too," Suki broached.

"I _don't_ think we're getting the full scope of this," Zuko started.

"Our sisters were kidnapped by a bunch of evil space monsters; what's not to get!" Sokka replied.

"It's not just a bunch of monsters; we're talking about a coordinated enterprise capable of instantaneous transportation to any place on the planet. If the most impregnable fortress there is can be easily subdued in minutes by this entity, what's stopping it from crippling other installations; or even worse: an actual city?"

Another wave of cold for the group's spines.

"Um...don't you think you're being a little hysterical?" Sokka inquired,"Sure, they got the drop on us; but really, if anybody saw a giant metal thing jumpin' around..."

"I'm not being hysterical, I'm being realistic; and frankly, you should be caring a bit more about the fate of your family than facts..."

The children, minus the preocupied Aang, took this opportunity to stare at the warrior curiously.

Sokka's eyes franticly shifted between his friends whom he would never attempt to deceive or manipulate in any way; at least not for personal gain...

"... erm... meh... g...p... t-Just because I'm not freaking out doesn't mean I don't care about my family!" the former waterbender defended,"And for you guys to inferr that I'm hiding something pertaining to my sudden lack of waterbending really calls into question the circle of trust we've established..." he ranted rather narcisisticly, crossing his arms and looking away from the team.

"I wasn't thinking that..." Zuko retorted.

"...w-Well, I..."

"Guys, don't you understand?" Aang interrupted,"You're playing into the enemy's hands: panicking and dramatizing and pointing fingers. This one incident is tearing us apart from the inside and that's exactly what who ever's doing this wants."

The young Fire Lord seemed to heed the Avatar's words."Aang's right; if we keep this up, we're not going to live for long. Sorry, Sokka..."

"n-No, it's my fault; I...I'm not taking this seriously enough..." Sokka apologized as well, looking incredibly guilty. It seemed the longer held the truth from his friend, the harder a blow it would be when he told them.

Aang felt similar anguish. Of all the times and dates in the world, why did this event have to occur on _his_ special day? It was obvious that these attacks were directed to him, which goaded the Avatar to speculate mentally what this otherworldly gathering would of gone for if, just if, the boy didn't have anyone close to go after...

* * *

"I suppose you're wondering who I am..." the scientist began, ascending from his chair.

The girls wished they had never demanded to talk to the one in charge of the station, each with their own unbelievable sight to behold: for Katara, the four enormous orbs encircleing the huge stem pillar which served as the main suport for the platform the doctor stood on seemed weird enough; Azula's poise was nonexistent the longer she gazed down at the pink and blue shards of holographic data swirling around below the platform; and while most people would assume that the Blind Bandit'd have little to be astonish about, in reality, the amount of shock Toph was experiencing towered over the combined bewilderment of the other two benders, as she alone could see in a very literal sense the raw power residing within the pillar behind the mysterious fat man. It was the same energy she felt much earlier, only this energy wasn't buzzing: it was flowing.

The doctor didn't seem to notice, having initiated his monologue that he had spent the whole afternoon rehursing, using the monitor as a mirror."I go by many names: Dr. Robotnik, Ivo Robotnik, Dr. Ivo Robotnik... _Eggman_...," he emphasized, as if the name sounded attractive,"but you may referr to me as _High Emperor EggBotnik Supreme_, as I plan on taking over your world and everything you hold dear very soon."

It was this declaration that got the attention of the girls.

"The _world_?" Katara repeated.

"Yes, the world; the acoustics in this room are truly dreadful, aren't they?" he retorted, beyond acustomed to such reactions, curling his moustache.

"Y-You can't just take over the entire planet; who do you think you are?" Azula demanded.

_"I think he thinks he's the guy with the giant space station..."_ Toph murmured.

_"Right..."_

"Oh, your more than right, little girl," he responded, "If you were taking a test, you would of gotten a B+," Eggman congradulated the blind girl.

"Little ..."

"True, I am the one with this station," although, it really wasn't entirely his, but ignorance was bliss," and to be quite honest, this planet doesn't have much to offer, say for few cheap magic tricks."

Azula had heard enough from the old man. "Listen to me, you pompous, overweight letch," she snapped, cutting in front of Katara,"your speaking to one of the greatest firebenders who ever lived. There's nothing cheap about it. Now, hiding behind petty little machines..."

"_I'm_ not hiding behind anything, you arrogant, pale-skinned harpy, as you can plainly see. If your such an exceptional fire 'bender', then what are you waiting for? Attack me. Melt my little machines like tin foil."

Azula hesitated...

"Of course you wouldn't do anything. Because your scared. Your ignorant; you've know idea who your spewing threats at, or how long your life expectancy will be if you do something stupid, your _highness._"

Katara spoke up, but calmly, trying to lower the tension" Azula...maybe he's right, we don't know who he is or how we even got up here in the first place..."

"Oh, that's right! Here, I'll show you..." the scientist annouced, pacing back to the terminal and giddily typing away at the keyboard, reactivating all the lights and security cameras. The fire/waterbenders gazed in awe as multiple windows popped up on the large screen, revealing to the two the existence of huge battleships orbiting the station; hallways filled with all types of robots, most notibly the Artificial Chaos, both patroling the satilite and sweeping away the demolished ones with over-sized brooms and grides; along with many more technologicly impossible features of the ARK, including the Eclipse Cannon.

"Frankly, I'd listen to your friend..." the doctor recommended.

Although Eggman was sure he was consistently ahead of these juvenile heathens, he was also aware of their martial skills; if they made a move, he wondered if he would be fast enough to react. Although he had no direct knowledge of the chemistry behind their elemental powers, Eggman guessed the firebender's power would probably be fueled by eccess radiation, such as the sun; and since this ship was technically powered by a massive nuclear fusion reactor - and since the Space Station wasn't too _far _from the sun - perhaps he would do well not to underestimate her. Nevertheless, he was armed, surrounded by mechanized body guards armed to the optics with high caliber weapons, and he was sure three girls would be successfully neutralized if they became hostile and made any attempts on his life.

On cue, the Egg Fighter stomped closer to the girls, slowly extending its long arm beyond the water and earthbender, intent on clamping its hand around the firebender's shoulder.

Noticing this, Azula quickly spun around and kicked out a plume in the same instant motion, forcing the girls behind her to drop to the floor again as the robot was blown to pieces by the unusualy large fireball.

Even the former princess slightly moved by her own display"...huh ...don't know my own strength... Come to think of it, I feel awfully energetic all of a sudden; like Ty Lee almost..." she smirked.

The vulnerable scientist swallowed. Perhaps leading the girls so close to the emeralds wasn't such a good idea...

"Now..." she continued, turning back to the doctor,"Why don't we have a little recap about that 'not hiding behind anything' comment..." she hissed, step by step.

"Well, I...er... technicly wasn't behind any-AHA!" he cried, whipping out another strange-looking contraption like a pistol.

The benders were frozen once again; only this time not from fear, just confusion.

"...is... Is that a chicken?" Azula inqiured, though she was close, as the device tightly gripped between Eggman's fingers bared a bizarre likeness to a pokedotted ostrich horse egg with a rooster's head for the barrel.

Regardless, the mad scientist simply grinned, pulling the trigger. The chicken head then opened its "beak", somehow producing a subtle sucking mechanism, which began to grow stronger and stronger until the firebender could just barely keep her footing.

"What? W-What is...wha... WHAAAaa_aaa-!" _Azula screamed, loosing her center of gravity and instantly devoured within the vacuum-like device.

The water and earth bender's jaws hung unhinged.

Eggman sighed with satisfaction, admiring his own raw genius."Well, that's that. Anyone else wanna see the inside?" he inquired, waving the gizmo around.

* * *

The two girls were shoved back into the room, the very same small room from which they first woke up, the door easily re-welded and repaired.

"I hope this conversation of ours has shown you three just how little your chances of escape truly are," Eggman announced, two Egg Gunners at his sides. The doctor then pulled the trigger once again, opening the beak and firing Azula out and in the room as well, the firebender comicly smacking into the wall and plopping on Toph's bed."And thank you again for choosing _Hotel Eggman_." the door descended shut.

The girls tried to collect their heads, so many thoughts and questions still remaining unanswered.

"...Well, at least we know where we are..." Katara remarked, no longer knowing her reason behind her optimism at this point.

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say..." Toph retorted,"you couldn't see the power that guy was controlling..."

"So, wait, you mean you sensed that energy from earlier?"

"No, I saw it; not sensed, _saw_, with _my_ eyes," the blind girl tried to explain, a look of shock naturaly appearing on the waterbender's face,"And whatever I saw, I just hope the Avatar State is just as powerful, or else the world won't be celebrating peace for long..."

**Meanwhile, at the capitol...**

The Fire Lord sighed."Alright, I apologize for the inconveinient time of this meeting, but this extremely important..."

"Wait a second," General Tung interrupted,"if this is an official meeting, then why isn't your throne lit with flames..."

"I don't _care _about the STUPID FLAMES!" Zuko snapped, silencing the seasoned veteran.

"If it's a meeting, then why am _I_ here?" Mai complained.

"BECAUSE-" the monarch haulted, providing himself time to regain his composure; a situation such this required a collected mind,"...because this is that important; the world is at stake, again, and you need to hear this too..." he sternly explained.

"Please proceed, your majesty," Chief Hakoda urged, his son, future daughter in law, the Avatar, and two Earth Kingdom officials remaining quiet.

Zuko took another breath before speaking."Earlier this morning, the Boiling Rock, the most heavily fortified prison complex in the Fire Nation, was stormed and devistated by a band of inhuman, mechanical creatures. Sometime this afternoon, Cheif Hakoda's daughter, Katara, was kidnapped by a single creature of similar anatomy, both events transpiring in mere minutes, disappearing as quickly and mysteriously as they arrived. At first I went ahead and assumed this an attack directed at my nation exclusively, but now I see their target is far broader than one faction; which is why I've assembled you here," he explained,"I'm requesting that you depart to send warnings to the other capitols effective immediately. We don't know where these beings are going to strike next, so it would be a neccessary precaution to have your leaders reinforce their most valuable cites and strongholds in the case of an impending attack. I'm especially concerned with-er... concerned _for_ key cities such as Omashu and the Nothern Water Tribe; if these incidents prove to be the prelude to another conflict, the best case scenario would have these locations prepared..."

"WAIT!... WAIT!" cried an awfully familiar voice as a servant skidded into the room with an object.

The young Fire Lord groaned."Don't tell me: all those cities have fallen too, right?" he replied, fed up with politics.

The servant once again endeavored to catch his breath."...This... item was... found... on the... stairway to... the palace..." he explained, laying the large object before the group and propping his upper half against his knees.

The Avatar gained a skeptical expression."So the first thing you decide to do is carry it all the way to the meeting room? What if it's a bomb!"

The servant thought hard for a moment, and leaned back down to pick the brown cube-shaped object back up.

"Wait a minute!" Sokka stopped,"that's not a bomb, it's a box."

"A...box?" Mai repeated.

"Yeah, see, Teo's dad invented it; it's supposed to be a cheaper, more efficient way of delivering stuff," Sokka explained.

"...Which would suggest it's from the inventor himself," Suki added.

The servant cleared his throat."Um... Did I forget to mention that I saw a small, metallic, floating creature flying away when I found it?"

All eyes were on the nameless man.

"...right, I...suppose I should be leaving now..." he mumbled, slowly tip-toeing out through the curtain.

Zuko turned to Aang, the closest sitting to the box."It must be a message; open it."

Naturally hesitant, the Air Nomad scooted closer and attempted to open the box, clearly struggling to do so.

"What's wrong?" Bato asked.

"I-grh-can't open it, it's sealed with somekind of adhesive material..." the boy grunted,"Anybody got a sharp object?"

At this query, Zuko produced one of his broadswords, Hakoda and Bato took out their bone machetes, the Earth Kindom generals raised their battle knives, and Suki unsheathed her nunjuto.

"I miss my sword..." Sokka mumbled glumly.

Aang took the nunjuto, and carefully split apart the mysterious adhesive (which was actually just a strip of duct tape), opening the package.

The tension among the members was unbearable as the Avatar peared into the cardboard cube.

"...Well?" Zuko inquired.

"Uhhh..." was pretty much the only response the loss-for-words Avatar could generate as he stared down at a box full of little greenish-white bits of fluff. However, unbeknownst to the boy, the fluff was there to ensure the safety of the item beneath...

It was then the most unexpected thing took place: a reflective black dome immediately emerged out from the fluff, causing the member's bodies to tighten with surprise. I was then that an an even more unexpected thing took place: a thin, blue, transparent wall of light shot out of the small dome which spanned a ninety-degree angle, from the entrance up to the ceiling. The wall rotated around the room, scanning the members who each cringed in their own fashion as it passed them, and eventually stopping on a silver piece as it landed on its intended target: Aang.

The wall began to shrink and shrink all the way down to a small, red beam pointing to the young Avatar's forehead, instantly cutting off afterwards.

And it was finally _then_ that the definate most unexpected occurance in the room took place: a white glowing circle appeared at the crown of the dome, where it projected a far less concentrated light, a three dimensional image manifesting out of it...and there he was, a holographic projection of Dr. Eggman, sitting on his chair with his fingers folded.

_"Well well,"_ the doctor began, unfolding his fingers, _"we meet at last..."_

The group was bombarded with raw shock.

"...It's a ghost! Run for your lives!" cried one of the Earth Kingdom nobles, both of them darting from their seats and out of the room screaming.

"...morons..." Mai muttered, indifferent to the very end.

"Who are you, and why have you attacked my country!" the Fire Lord demanded, rising from his seat.

_"Oh, just a humble inventor looking to setup shop in a new area. In this case: the planet."_

"So you're the cause behind the unversal disturbance I've been sensing?" Aang got up,"Was it you who sent that meteor to destroy Makapu?"

_"Peh, if I wanted to level any old village, believe me, it'd be alot more memorable then a flaming rock..." _he replied boastfully.

"You're kidding me, right?" Mai inquired,"_This_ is the guy everyone's heading for the hills over? He looks like a giant..."

_"...A giant, talking egg; yes, I get that..."_ the doctor finished half-heartedly.

"You sure he looks like an egg?" Bato inquired,"The way that gut of his lurches out, it makes'em seem more like a rotten pear..."

It was this observation that sent the doctor off the edge._"mmpt-d'I wouldn't be making up insults if I were you!"_ he snapped, throwing his finger toward the warrior's face, _"You may have the gall, but I have the girls,"_ he announced, fiddleing with the keyboardand opening a holographic surveilence window of the room containing said girls for the members to see.

"Katara!" impulsively cried the Air Nomad.

_"Don't bother with that; they can't hear you,"_ he stated flatly,_" don't worry yourselves though, I'm taking good care of them; in fact, I'll be sure to feed them when we're done."_

"I believe I asked you who you are..." Zuko restarted.

_"Oh, right, where'd my manners go?"_ he cleared his throat,_"They call me...Eggman."_

The whisping curtain offered the only sound in the room.

_"I know, you're all parylized by my awsomeness," _the doctor continued, taking the akward silence the wrong way_,"but I assure you, I am but a man, no different than any of you here...save for my vastly superior intellect that, in comparison with yours, makes this entire inhabitance look like raving neanderthals which, by default, would catagorize myself into a higher level of evolution in general," _he explained as if a matter of fact.

As Eggman praised himself, Sokka turned his attention to the screen, concerned for his baby sister. She was just sitting on a bed, supporting her chin on her palms; the waterbender's expression had a severe lack of hope. The warrior noticed to her left another bed with an unfamiliar girl lying on it - he presumed that was Azula - she was clearly unconscous. His pupils retreated to the other side of the room, where they crossed over another bed that looked like it lossed a fight with a fireball, _Wonder where that came from_, he thought. It was then that Sokka realized his eyes passed something on the way to the scorched mattress; they quickly swung back to Katara, just now seeing a third, smaller girl on the right of his sister, mimicking her position.

_Wait a sec...is that...?_

"Is that Toph?" he asked aloud.

_"Pardon?"_

Sokka pointed to the screen."Look, it's Toph; you captured Toph too?"

Everyone followed, including Eggman._"Why yes I did; kind of odd how quiet she is, I assumed most earthbenders were loud-mouthed..." _he speculated_._

"Oh my gosh, Toph too?" asked Suki,"Why are you imprisoning these girls? What did the world do to you?"

_"Firstly, it's what I'm going to do to the world you should be concerned about," _Eggman retorted, _"As for girls, they're mainly for incentive purposes..."_

" 'Incentive' ?" Zuko scoffed, "If you're as almighty as you've convinced the staff of the Boiling Rock to be, what exactly would someone like you gain from prodding so-called 'inferior beings' with a petty threat?" the Fire Lord inquired.

_"I was hoping it could be more of a negotiation, really..."_

"You mean like a trade?" Hakoda asked,"Why? What could we have to offer to a man who can be at mutiple points on the planet in a single day?"

The doctor grinned so wide, his moustache was elavated._"Ah, but that's why we're all here, isn't it?"_

* * *

The doctor gazed sinisterly at the anxious holograms surrounding the bridge to the exit. He got up and paced across the pathway as he spoke. "You see," he began,"When I first made it to your world but a week ago, an unfornate 'accident' lead me to lose a very precious artifact of mine; one of seven, actually: an ivory jewel, that glows like the brightest lanturn," the scientist explained, the holographic Sokka taking a double-take,"It plummeted away from my humble abode all the way down to this planet, where it landed somewhere in this region."

_"I'm sure there are plenty of diamonds like that in the Earth Kingdom..."_ Zuko suggested, his hologram near the entrance.

_"None that glow white..."_ Suki replied.

"Exactly,this jewel is incalculably special," Eggman said,"and I feel that my plans of invasion would be too bounded without it."

_"Okay..."_ Aang exhaled,_"So, if we find this jewel, you'd be willing to exange Katara, Azula, __and__ Toph for it?"_

"Sounds reasonable enough," Eggman replied.

* * *

"Now wait a blinkin' second!" Bato intervened,"You can't expect us to believe that this stone is simply a lucky charm you like to carry around; otherwise, you wouldn't've threatened us by kidnapping these girls."

"In case you've forgotten, Bato, one of those girls happens to be mine," Hakoda reminded.

"He's right, though," the Fire Lord explained,"If the mere presence of this item could change our fate that easily, it's nowhere near worth three girls...no matter how close they are..." his voice cracked at the last part.

The room seemed to lose temperature as he finished.

_"So...you're all sure about this assement?" _

"Hold on..." Aang stopped,"_I'm _the Avatar here, I still haven't made up my mind yet," he declared sternly.

_"Of course, we forgot the most important opinion of all,"_ Eggman apologized,_"So, what's going to go, Avatar Aang: a jewel that can convert thoughts into power, or some girl you may or may not be engaged to one day?"_

The boy's edged stare turn dull in seconds: Eggman never mention the properties of the artifact...

The doctor sighed._"I see the choice is too conflicting for you..."_ the gravity defying hologram pretend-grimaced, pacing back to his chair, taking his seat and crossing his legs,_"Tell you what: how about I come down tomorrow with your women where we can meet in person, say...the Black Cliffs?"_ he suggested, looking at a digitally rendered atlas,_"We'll just stay there until about noon, and if I don't see you anywhere, well, I'll just leave and...well, you'll probably never see them again...but no pressure though; you don't have to give it if to me you don't want to..." _hepatronized.

The Avatar looked away.

_"Nice to know we've reached an aggreement,"_ Eggman affirmed, making the decision for him,_"I'll see you tomorrow...or not, it's your choice..."_

"Wait!" Aang exclaimed, snapping back to his senses.

The hologram cut off.

* * *

The doctor arose from his seat a second time, stretching.

"Ahhh...I wonder if I should've told them about that whole Chaos-thing..." he pondered, resting his knuckle on his hip, stroking his chin in contemplation,"...Dah, I'm sure they'll figure it out..." he blew it away, walking for the door intent on getting some dinner.

* * *

The air was saturated with cold, metaphysical silence. It was as if the blindsided members had gone deaf for lack of will, especially Aang.

Being the closest to the grief-stricken Avatar, Suki layed her gloved hand on his shoulder in an attempt to brighten the room."It's alright. We'll find a way; you always do," she lulled.

Unfortunately for the young captian, this compassionate gesture was most likely the first and greatest mistake the elite fighter had ever commited, as the boy's tattoos sprung to life with light. Suki backed away as the Avatar's collective power awoke, the air swirling around him.

Sokka's eyes bugged out."EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!"

Not enough time to exit the room, the rest of the members dashed behind the pillars and braced themselves as the berserk Avatar, whaling out countless voices at once, brought down a tumult of air upon the alien device, creating a shockwave spanning the area of the chamber itself... silence followed...

The group peeked around nervously to see if his episode had ended. They saw a still boy kneeling on the floor, his head hung low. Beside him, the atlas was scraped white halfway, the Fire Lord's throne was gone, and it was quite the understatement to say the candles were blown out, as the side of the pillars receiving Aang's breif rath were pressed inward slightly.

Aang stared down at the impression in the floor where a no longer existent mechanism once lay. He turned to his friends."...I totally lost it, didn't I?" he asked quietly.

"...kinda'..." Sokka peeped.

The boy made an exhale somewhere between a sigh and a grunt."It's like he doesn't even want the thing; like all this chaos he's been causing is just one convoluted birthday present..."

"He probably thinks we've already found it," speculated Hakoda.

"Yeah but, should we actually give it to him? According to him, this jewel turns thoughts into power, and he seems to want it badly..." dicussed Suki.

"Is the kid done with his moodswing? I had my ears covered..." Mai popped out.

"He also implied he had six more," reminded Zuko,"I guess that's how he was able to traverse across the world so easily..." he deduced, walking over to a broken piece of the device and picking it up, staring into the blurred reflection,"Armies, weapons, all sorts of monsters and natural disasters conjured up by a mere mental adjustment. If one could make that happen..." he stopped; the Fire Lord didn't even want to think of what celestial nightmare would be realized if this madman attained all seven...

Sokka seemed to be getting more nausious, supporting his body with the pillar he hid behind.

"He mentioned something about 'our world'...like, he wasn't even born on this planet..." Aang recalled.

"Perhaps he wasn't," suggested Bato,"I mean think about it, this guy doesn't seem like he's from around here, or anywhere for that matter..."

"If there's anything modern astronomy has taught us," the Fire Lord began,"the universe is a lot bigger than our fathers thought it was; like the sun, for example: man used to think the sun revolves around us; the exact opposite is true. We're going to have to widen our gaze a bit if we can ever hope to think on his level."

"But how would we do that?" the warrior inquired,"How _could_ we do it? If we're all just a bunch of animals compared to this guy, how would we ever be able to find the jewel in the first place? We don't even know what the blasted rock looks like!"

_"I do..._"

The whole room was silent once more,all of the members turning their attention to the ominus and most unexpected source all: Sokka, his free hand tighten to a fist, facing down with his eyes shut.

"What did you say?" Aang inquired, forcing his already distraught brain to not just hope, but assume he was just hearing things. The Air Nomad would rather it be he himself gone insane rather than so much as conceive the concept of his best friend since Appa, actually withholding a revelation of universal proportions from the only individual who could hope to mend such a catastrophe.

But it was true, It was nobody's imagination; the voice belonged to Sokka, who seemed just tormented as he raised his head to speak further, but masked it with the deepest look of determination the Water Tribe teen's worn since the Battle of Wulong Forest.

"I know what happened to the Chaos Emerald."

* * *

**And there you go. Dang, I must of accomplished a record on my part...**

**Sonic: Ooooh, Pony-tail Man in trouble nooow...**

**Wolf tail...but I won't kid myself, I had far more assistance from my brother than I thought I would; not only is half the first scene his (proofread by me, of course), he also provided a good structure for the match of witts between Baldy Nosehair and Phycho Chick, 'course I added the chicken/vacuum thing from **_**Shadow The Hedgehog - **_**terrible game but so many good quotes...**

**Sonic: And if this were rated T, I probably would've made a very crude joke about that vacuum.**

**You know, there's a fine line between Spiderman and Deadpool...**

**Sonic: Uh, yeah, heh heh, that durn Deadpool, doesn't know when to shut up...**

**Yeah, what a jerk...**

**Me/Sonic:*share good, hardy laugh***

**Real Sonic:*walks in with milkshake* So, you done with your 'fic ye-**

***awkward silence***

**Fake Sonic: uuuuhh... *pulls out walkie talkie* Weasel, they're on to me! Abort mission!**

***gigantic hole is blown through the roof. A helicoptor hovers above; lets down a rope ladder. Fake Sonic leaps up in a dramatic somersault and morfs back into Deapool before catching ladder***

**Deadpool: Curses! My ultimate goal is ruined! But don't rest so soon; one day, I will add so much funny to your fanfic, you will have no choice but to place it in the humor catagory! I'll get you, and your PS3! LONG LIVE THE CHIMICHUNGAAA!**

***flies away***

**Me/Sonic:0_0...**

**Sonic: ...What?**

**Please Review!**


	7. Character Select

**Welcome back, readers. So, I bet by now, one single question is pulsating throughout the four corners of your cerebrum: "Where the yolk is Sonic?"**

**Well, the truth is, I've been wondering the same thing. For a long time now, I've been unable to come up with a concise and acceptable outline for the characters. I had this one idea that sounded reasonable and lasted a long time in my head; but it only sounded good in my head. And somewhere along the lines of **_**The Beseige,**_** I was forced to pretty much rethink my entire story from **_**The Space Station **_**and onward.**

**It might be another while before this fic gets on the web, since I've just started working on my very second fanfiction; and if you skim over the top author's notes in **_**Prologue **_**and **_**Sokka, The Waterbender**_**, you'll know what I mean when I say "second fanfiction".**

**So to make up for all the unintentional suspense, I present to you a Sonic character- exclusive chapter in the form of of a **_**Sonic Adventure**_** story selection menu, hence the name.**

**On with the story... game... layout... thing...**

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

* * *

**Knuckles**

* * *

_**Six days ago...**_

Wind swept through the empty forest.

_"ggurrh...wuz goin' on..." _maundered the lathargic echidna, stirred by the sudden breeze, causing him to turn over, slip off of, immediately come to (with notable alarm), and latch on to with one hand the branch he had been sleeping on.

Knuckles sighed with relief, then looked down to see a twenty foot drop below him.

"How the heck did I get up here?" he blurted out. Then it all came back to him...

The robots, the ARK, the black hole, but more importantly...

"SONIC!" Knucles exclaimed, swinging himself away from the other branches in order to touch down on the earth. He then scanned his surroundings.

It was daytime, first off; the sun leaned to the side significantly, so it was either morning or the late afternoon - it felt like morning, so he went with that. As for his enviornment, the echinda was surrounded by countless bare trees, which he found odd. It was in fact autum last time he checked, but one would at least expect to see piles of dead leaves at this point in the fall season. Upon closer inspection, he realized the truth...

"This forest was burned," he vocalized, feeling the charred bark. His expression gained a hint of sorrow; a part of him felt deeply sorry for all the animals that had to leave their homes during whatever disaster took place here - atleast the ones lucky enough to make it out, that is. But Knuckles shook the images away, knowing there were more important things going on than some random forest fire as he stated walking in any other direction: Eggman's got the ARK, whatever he wants with it. And if the he himself is here, his friends coudn't be to far off; well, minus Sonic that is...

He recalled the picture as if it had been five minutes ago. He almost made it to the _Typhoon_; he was just a couple feet to the door when...when _he_ showed up, that crazy mecha, it put its own "life" on the line just to get Sonic. He hoped the hedgehog was alright, wherever he is; but if Sonic was alright, _it'_s probably in good shape too. Boy, couldn't he wait to get his hands on that Metal...

The echidna's vengefull thoughts soon dispersed as he felt the front of his shoe kick something over. He looked down to see a medium-sized sharp object, which his natural curiosity nudged him to pick up.

"What's this thing?" he wondered. It was some kind of bone weapon, painted blue all over, with animal hide stretched around one end of it, probably to enhance grip. The strange thing about the blade was the fact that it was bent almost ninety degrees, which caused the young gardian to inquire as to what kind of idiot would use a weapon like this in combat, seeing as how it pretty much hindered itself by shortening its own slashing range in half. He eventually flung the thing over his shoulder, resuming his walk. He had more important things to do than pace the area scavanging up random...

***thwack***

Knuckles spun around, his fist up, to face his attacker; strangely, though, there was no one there. The echidna looked back down at an awfully erie sight, picking up the very same object he could have sworn he had just thrown away.

"_What the..._" he mumbled, his face giving away his confusion. But shrugged it off, his natural echidna reasoning deducing that he may have just tossed it upwards or something. He then pulled back his arm, and made sure to hurl the wierd looking blade as far into the sky as he lazily could; he then assumed a position that suggested deep thought. He had no idea where he was, so it would be reasonable to look for higher ground in order to get a superior view of the...

***thwack***

Knuckles stumbled to the side, rubbing the left of his cranium. He froze, slowly sweeping his pupils in the direction of the offender, only to see what forced the fightin' freak to back away in fear.

It was the thingy - the exact same thingy he _knew_ he just threw out of sight mere seconds ago. Multiple thoughts and suggestions bolted all around the dumbfounded echidna's head. It could've been probable at that point that the Knuckles wasn't quite alone as he perceived earlier; that perhaps a mysterious assailent was sneakily retrieving the bone weapon behind the echidna's back, and "returning" it for the sole purpose of annoying him.

Such a hypothesis could derived; but on the other glove, this barren forest was so quiet, a single belch could probably be heard for miles. Only a ninja could be so discreet, which wold be irrelevent as of now given the fact that ninjas are simply a government hoax. Besides that, he didn't believe Espio would mess with him like that.

In other words, there was literally no explanation pertaining to any form of physics or mathmatics that served to luminate the anomoly before him aside from the possibility that it was..._magic..._

That was it, wasn't it? It had to of been. Somewhere along the lines of whatever, some wizard had become sadisctic enough as to cast a spell on an innocent piece of bone that caused it to turn around in mid-flight and strike whoever dared to throw it.

It seemed a wise action to simply leave the cursed artifact be and get on with his life; but the echidna couldn't help but think of all the people who will one day come across it like he did and throw it out of pure curiosity. And for that matter, who was to say he was the first?

"Better let Tails see this thing..." Knuckles vocalized, hesitantly picking back up, this time making sure not to drop it. The echidna then continued his journey though te dead forest, intent on getting some answers.

* * *

**So, yeah, I've decided for this particular chapter, I'm going to send it scene by scene to enhance the video game effect. It'll also serve as compensation for how I wasted the whole summer with one chapter.**

**Sonic: Smart. Soooo, where am I?**

**Heh heh...you'd really like to know that, wouldn't you?**

**Sonic: Not really; I mean, I know I where I am (that's alot of _I_'s), I was just asking on behalf of the hundereds, if not thousands of readers that are still wonering.**

**Well I gave them Knuckles, didn't I?**

**Sonic: Wow, you gave them _Knuckles, _I'm so awstruck that you'd somehow produce a short chapter devoted to a supporting character, and manage to convey the very _essence_ of his being. The fans will surely forge golden idols of you to pay tribute to your re-introduction of the only character anyone who has ever _been_ cares about.**

**...You done?**

**Sonic: Yep.**

**Well, while you're off to wherever pouting about not being the first to appear in the chapter, I'll be watching _Transfomers: Dark of the Moon_ (which Mom had apparently just bought for me on DVD) in the family room that has built-in surround sound.**

**Sonic:O_O...d'well... I got surround sound...**

**Perhaps, but not _Transformers_.**

**Sonic:-_-...**

**Please Review!**


	8. Shadow

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

**Shadow**

* * *

_**Five days ago...**_

_"All of you ungrateful humans..."_

_"Such bravado for a little hedgehog..."_

_"...will feel my loss and dispair..."_

_"I gave you life, and yet you defy me?..."_

_"...took everything away from me..."_

_"What are you doing, you traitor?..."_

_"I designed its mind to be perfect; pure..."_

_"I shall put an end to your foolish attempts to defy me, __**and**__ your miserable existence..."_

_"I will leave everything...to him."_

"...Are you going to stare out that window all day?"

His eyes shot open, and was met with a clear firmament of blue. Shadow slowly arose to a sitting position, groaning all the way with his left hand on his forehead, his right stablizing him.

"It's about time, Mr. Relentless," taunted a familiar femenine voice.

Shadow turned up at two o' clock to see Rouge reclining on a branch.

"Morning," she greeted in her usual droll tone, slipping off the branch and landing gracefully on the ground,"I was going to wake you up myself, but I know how cranky you get when there's another sentient organism within a range of ten feet from you..."

Shadow took this time to scan his environment. The black hedgehog had awoken in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by forestry. He sighed again, as apparently, he'd blacked out again. He cursed his amnesia; it was his only flaw, but it was a flaw nonetheless. Shadow wasn't supposed to have flaws; it was the very purpose of his creation - to be perfect, with all the assesment and precision of a supercomputer, and not weighted down by such handicapps as emotions...but he supposed that was his creator's doing as well, given his inevitable plunge into insanity, reprograming his greatest scientific achevement into despising his own speices with passion, biting whole chunks out of the hedgehogs memory so that he remembered only what the doctor wanted him to. It left a permanent scar in his phyche, and he still has yet to uncover how the man did it. Sometimes, he would ponder exactly where the truth ends and the lies begin...especially when it came to Maria...

But, that was the past, and this was now.

"How long?" he finally spoke, reffering to the durration of his comotose.

Rouge shrugged."About two days, at least since I woke up," the bat replied.

"Anything interesting happen?" he inquired, rubbing his head, his eyes shut.

"Not much," she began,"you came down for the weekend, one of the agents had a birthday party, we played a few rounds of _Pin the Knife on the Terrorist, _saw a couple movies...oh, and Eggman hijacked the ARK..."

The hedgehog's eyelids dissappeared, his cerebrum soaking in all the events of the recent past.

Shadow then walked off, hunched over and growling like a neanderthal.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Rouge inquired.

"_Breakfest_," the dark hedgehog replied, dashing away towards a nearby mountain.

The former jewel thief rolled her eyes, flying after her disgruntled partner.

* * *

Shadow halted at the peak of the mountain, which was actually one half of a mountain split down the middle, and scanned the vicinity.

How could he be so foolish? For the ultimate lifeform to actually of been intimidated by that blue idiot's cheap shot at his resiliance that was almost as immature as he was; that he managed to coax him into leaving the ARK, his birthplace and responsibility, on the grounds that the colony was useless in military terms without the Chaos Emeralds which, according to him, were nearly impossible to find. Well so much for that theory...

Rouge finaly made it to him.

"Ya' know, rocketing all the way up here isn't going to solve anything," she landed just below Shadow,"and it certianly isn't easing off the stress from forty-eight hours of looking for you; the least you could do is..."

"Where are we?" Shadow inquired impatiantly.

The interrupted bat sighed."Well, judging from the giant vortex we were sucked into, and all those wierd looking animals I saw on the way here, I highly doubt we're in Kansas," she replied.

Faced with this latest revelation, the ebony hedgehog felt the need to clench his fist, and release a bit of his anger in the form of a Chaos Spear into the other portion of the mountain. A subtle explosion echoed.

"I knew I shoudn't have left the ARK! But no, I had to give in to weakness..." he spat.

"Now hold on a second," now was Rouge's turn to interrupt, whipping in front of the hedgehog,"taking little time off after months of playing 'space-watchdog' isn't weakness, it's just natural..."

"For _you_, maybe, but for me, it's simply one more bit of evidence that I'm an incomplete experiment. In case you hadn't notice, there's work to be done; so stay out of my way," Shadow finished, leaping over his partner and down the mountain split.

As the all-but perfect being plummeted, he noticed at the bottom of the division a large stone platform, accompanied by a tall set of stairs facing the lake. The stairs lead up to a thin bridge that went into a cave on either half of the mountain. Shadow landed at the top of the stairs. Once again, Rouge touch down behind him.

"You can hop around all you want; I'm not going to leave you alone just because you're alittle miffed," the agent persisted.

Shadow counter-persisted to ignore her.

"Will you wake up, Shadow? I don't care how 'ultimate' you are, this isn't good for your health. Look at you, your voice is hoarse, the red trim on your shoes is all scraped up, and you're twitching - _twitching_, Shadow."

"I am _not_ twitching," the hedgehog sternly replied, his left ear briefly fluttering a moment later.

"All I'm trying to do is look out for you, whether or not you think you need it. Because unlike a certian high-ranking commander, you're a little more to me than a walking WM-" the bat's ears perked up,"...uh-oh..."

"What now?" the annoyed hedgehog inquired.

"I think I just figured out what this giant shrine is supposed to pay homage to..." Rouge speculated, turning around toward the cave entrance behind her.

A sound _thud_ echoed within the caves, some dust and pebbles chipping off the ceiling of either one, directing Shadow's attention to the cave he was already facing. He slouched, his hands raised, ready for an ambush."Whatever is in there, it's making a big mistake," Shadow declared.

A louder and stronger _thud_ occured; the "whatever" was getting closer.

"I'm not so sure about that..." Rouge mumbled.

In an instant, two enormeous serpent-like creatures shot out of either cave, immediately unraveling their wings, and swirling around the two in dazzling display of red and blue, creating a typhoon around them with their momentum.

They stopped, and landed on either side of the altar, mirroring eachother as they stared down their prey.

Shadow and Rouge were as stone statues, routing all their energy to prevent the slightest movement that would indefenately be their last...

In another split-second, Shadow shoved Rouge off the altar in one spinning motion, propelling her down the steps before the beasts unleashed two massive blasts of fire, consuming the hedgehog.

The bat could only cover her mouth in horror, as the same spot her partner once stood was now occupied by a blazing tornado of terror.

* * *

***spooky voice* ooooohhhh, cliiiffhaangeeer... Oh, and just to make sure you got it, Shadow was talking about Eggman when he said **_**"Breakfest"**_**. Get it? Egg? Breakfest? Yes, he's that angry...**

**Please Review! **


	9. The Chaotix

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

* * *

**The Chaotix**

* * *

_**Thirty-six hours ago...**_

A small arc of electricity quickly flickered into and out of reality.

Two more arcs followed.

Several currents bundled around an ever expanding orb of energy until...

_*FLASH*_

Three screaming figures materialized out of nowhere a landed rather painfully onto the grassy moon-lite field - the largest one fell on his back, while the two others on their faces; silence followed...

"...THAT WAS AWSOME!" Charmy exclamed, jolting back to life,"First we got sucked into a black hole, and then Ray was like _'aaaahhhh!', _and then Knuckles was like_'noooooooo!',_ and then Shadow was like _'grrrr, I'm mad', _and all the colors and battleships and..."

_"What ever happened to that older Charmy?"_ Espio inquired as the bee continued, his face still embedded into the ground.

"I dunno, he said somethin' about movin' on to relestate..." Vector replied, also remaining in his position.

"...and then the-_ooh! _what's that over there?" the energetic bug changed the subject, his paper-thin attention span forcing him to point to the very next thing his eyes laid upon.

The other two rose up to follow Charmy's finger, though Espio had a more difficult time, breifly struggleing tp remove his horn from the ground, making a noise simmilar to the uncorking of a wine bottle on succsession.

"Wow, wouldya' look at that house..." Vector remarked.

"What manner of manor have we landed on?" Espio wondered aloud.

_"Hey, who said that?"_ said a distant voice.

_"It came from over there!" _declared another.

Soon, two men clad in armored robes holding lanturns ran toward the source of the yelling.

"Who goes there? And how dare you set foot on the Bei Fo...Bei fe...Bei fufo...DRAGON!" the man on the right cried, throwing his finger forward.

Espio chuckled, folding his arms."I know, my intmidating appearance would lead most to assume so; but I assure you, I am but a humble chamelion," he responded smugly.

"I think he was talking about Vector..." Charmy commented.

The "humble" chamelion scoffed."Keh, beleive what you wanna beleive..."

"Thay can speak!" the other guard exclamed,"they must be demons!"

"Now look, fellas', we're not evil spirits, we just wanna know where we are..." Vector began, taking a step forward.

The men went into a stance."Stay back, demon! Don't you move an inch closer!" the left one warned.

"Or else what? You're unarmed!" the super-strong croc reponded quizzicly.

In complete randomness, the two men thrusted their cocked fist upward, causing a catapult of rock to fling Vector and Espio into the sky.

"Hah hah," was Charmy's immediate reaction.

The guards snorted at Charmy.

Noticing this, the bee darted away in the direction his friends were thrown.

* * *

The two detectives smacked into a pig pen, splashing mud in all directions.

They groggily hauled themselves up, spitting out of their mouths what they hoped was just wet dirt.

"Could somebody tell me how the heck we ended up in China?" Vector sputtered.

"I don't think..." Espio coughed,"...we're in China..."

"Well I'm pretty sure we're not in Australia..." the crocodile retorted, whiping himself off.

The chamelion copied his partner's action in a more thorough manner."Vector, if we were somewhere in the Far East, wouldn't those guards have spoken some Far Eastern language instead of _perfect English_?" he inquired.

"Easy, we're in China-_Town_," Vector deduced, his shorter partner rolling his eyes.

"Ooh, ooh! I know!" Charmy declared on arrival,"what if, we've somehow ended up..._in another dimeeennsiooonnn?_" he speculated, erie si-fi music playing in the background.

All attention was diverted towards the confused Vector."...Oh! Heh, sorry 'bout that..." the croc responded sheepishly, turning off his walkman.

"That doesn't seem all that improbable..." Espio continued, taking note of the sleeping pigs with bull horns,"we should search for the others, and maybe find some intel on where we actually are," the brains advised, crossing his arms again.

"Aww, why do we have to find them now? I wanna play with the pigs!" Charmy complained.

"Yeah, we better find a place to rest for the night first..." Vector contemplated, stretching his shoulder, soon after wrapping his large arm around the smaller two,"and rest well, my colleages! For tomarrow begins our next big case: _The Mystery of the Caucasian Asians!_" he announced, pointing nowhere significant cinamaticly.

"...Don't ever say that again..." Espio groaned.

* * *

**And there's the Chaotix!**

**Sorry if this one seemed a bit Michael Bay-ish, but I was in kind of a rush.**

**Please Review!**


	10. Tails

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

* * *

**Tails**

* * *

_**Four days ago...**_

All was quiet atop the cold, lonely mountain peak.

_"Sonic!"_

Its only friends the gray, glommy clouds that hovered about; and the erie winds that saturated the peak with its chill.

_"Amy? Knuckles? Anyone?"_

Neither foul nor beast dare ascend the desolate peak, regardless of seasonal migrations.

_"Hello? I can't be the only one here. Sonic!"_

And why would they? It wasn't as if they had a home to return to, not after what happened to this place - such has remained unchanged...for over a hundred years.

"Hello!" the fox called, receiving a fourth batchof echoes as he hovered throughout the abandoned temple.

Since he had woken up in this strange monastary, not but five minutes ago, Miles "Tails" Prower had been surveying the mountain for any signs of his friends, as logic would dictate that where ever the fox was, his friends had to be at least in the general area since they were all in the same ship when...well, he wasn't entirely sure of the occurence of what felt like moments earlier, but his optimism was stable to say the least, and the young tinkerer was certian that as long as he held a stiff upper lip that wherever the other Sonic Heroes were, he was bound to run into them, though there was still one more issue at hand:...

"Sonic..." he mumbled, descending onto the edge of a nearby cliffside.

Before being atomized, the fox managed catch sight of Knuckles sharing a breif despute with someone apparently outside the _Typhoon_, and since Silver and Rouge were already strapped in their seats, there was only one other guess. Moments after, he heard Omega come back online long enough to announce that Metal Sonic was approaching. Knuckles then looked shocked as he fell back in the ship, and Amy demanded what happened to Sonic as she looked like she was about to cry.

Putting the evidence together, Tails concluded that Sonic had somehow climbed against the ship during the anomoly, but was intercepted by a reactivated Metal Sonic shortly after. This was definately a bite at his optimism. What if he was still in limbo? What if he fell back out of the vortex? But that would mean falling back into space, and without the ARK's artificial atmosphere...no, no that could never happen. Sonic was the greatest; he couldn't just lose to Eggman like that, he just couldn't. Sonic always wins, always!

"Always?"

Tails's sad expression dropped; he quickly backed away in fear from the bony old man that was apparently sitting next to him.

"Who...who are you? And how did you know what I was thinking!" he timidly demanded, pointing his shaky finger.

The bushy-bearded elder raised his own."Well, you see, I was reading the...well, anyway, I am Guru Pathic", he answered, his voice baring a thick Indian accent.

The fox lowered his finger."...um...I'm Tails", he replied meekly.

The old man stroked his enormous beard, observing the anthro carefully."You seem troubled. You are not of this universe, are you?" he inquired casually, his smile never faultering.

Tails blinked twice; this conversation wasn't getting any less abnormal."...I don't think so..."

"Interesting, I had my own suspicions of such a thing for a time, but I learned to keep it to myself for fear of rejection from the monks..."

"Monks?" Tails repeated.

"Oh yes, I was a personal friend Monk Gyotso of the Southern Air Temple, which enabled me to learn the ways of his people; I was even granted the title of Honorary Air Nomad, despite me not being a bender myself..."

"Wait, wait a second! I don't even know what you're talking about," Tails interrupted, waving his hands.

Now was the guru's turn to blink twice."...You do not know of the Air Nomads or of benders?"

Tails shook his head.

The elder caressed his chin."Then you must not know of The War..." he realized.

"Well, I _am_ not of this universe..." the fox reminded

The Guru's smile returned."Good point. In that case, we have much to talk about..." he annouced, placing his frail, harmless hand upon the fox's shoulder,"Let me start from the beginning..."

* * *

**Well, that one didn't take as long as I thought it did...**

**P.S.: the **_**Typoon**_** is not to be confused with the **_**Blue Typhoon**_** from Sonic X, it was just a name I made up. It's actually that chubby red and blue ship from **_**Shadow The Hedgehog**_** that they used to get to Space Colony ARK/The Black Comet. I would appriciate it if someone could give me its real name if it has one.**

**Sonic: Isn't that game uncanon?**

**Hey, if you wanna talk about continuity, I could just throw Princess Elise in this fic...**

**Sonic: No, no! There's no need for need for that, I was just bein' stupid...heh heh...*shudders***

**Please Review!**


	11. Silver

**Before you read this part, I must consign to you fellow readers a simple truth...**

**Sonic: Is it that you've never bought a single one of my games for over five years?**

**...**

**By the time I had finished and posted the prologue, I had not once looked up on any sort of data base for the profile of the following character - his powers, personality,etc...All knew was he's an obvious reference to DBZ's Trunks with telekenetic powers. Had I known how powerfull he was from the get-go, I would have never put him in this fanfic and possibly even saved him for a sequel with the next Avatar who may or may not be Sokka's granddaughter. I'll probably still do that...**

**Sonic: Oh well, IT'S NO UUUUSSE dwelling on it...**

**Eh, it's not like it matters, since this is fanfiction and NO COPYRIGHT LAW IN THE **_**UNIVERSE**_** IS GONNA STOP ME!**

**Sonic:...touche...**

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

* * *

**Silver**

* * *

_**Three days ago...**_

It felt as though the world spun around him. Heat and chill fluctuating throughout his body. There was no bottom, gravity constantly changing. It was like his was hovering between life and death. He strenously pulled his eyes open, catching a squinted glimps of several people in rags; they were all sideways to the left, as well as the horizon. His eyes closed...

...They opened again, This time seeing the evening sky. They closed again...

...They open a third time, seeing the same image as before, this time it was inverted, the people and horizon were leaning perfectly to the right. A colder chill crawled up his spine: was the world really spinning around him?

"H-hey...Where am I?" rang a familiar small voice.

"Amy?" he said, his eyes opening completely. It was only now that Silver realized the truth: the world wasn't spinning - he was, on rotesery spit in fact."WHERE THE HECK ARE WE?"

He was surrounded by a pack of brutish-looking humans in redish-brown rags and various animal pelts. Some were walking around doing brute-oriented things, some were hanging freshly-made pelts to dry, and one ragged woman was chasing around a bizarre chicken/possum hybrid with a hatchet. Silver and Amy were both tied on opposite sides to a long stick resting above crackling flames; by this point, the situation was painfully obvious.

The man rotating the spit paused."Hey! Dinner can talk!" he blurted out in amazement.

"Heh, won't be talkin' for long..." retorted a husky, middle-aged woman a few steps away, sitting on a rock and sharpening the hook-shaped blade the was apparently hers against somekind of leather. On her left shoulder was what was left of the head of something between a hog and a monkey.

"Oh no, Silver, these people are try to cook us! What're we going to do?" the pink hedgehog cried clichely.

"I'll tell you what I'm gonna do..." the grey hedgehog replied. He then began glowing, and sent a shockwave that simultaneously broke them free, doused the fire, blew the rotating man away, and caught the attantion of the entire camp.

The man stubbornly rose to his feat, taking out his knife."Who said you could break free!" He rushed at Silver with a battle cry, until he was blasted away even further though a couple tents.

"Anybody else wanna' piece?" Silver challenged, his arm still raised.

Pretty much every tribesmen in the camp surrounded them, their various weapons sparkeling and their chops licked.

"That came out wrong..." the future hedgehog realized.

"You mean you still wanna eat us after you saw what Silver can do?" Amy inquired in astonishment.

"...hey", one of them had an epiphany,"mabye if we eat them, we'll be able to do that too!" he proposed, the rest of the group yelling in agreement. They charged.

Huffing, Amy took her hammer out of...somewhere... and charged as well. The pink hedgehog battered three savages away one swing at a time; she brought the weapon down on some poor soul's foot, causing him to whale in agony before receiving an upward swing against his chin, sending him flying.

With his pcychokenesis, Silver picked up two tribesmen and slapped them against each other. The grey hedgehog caught a man's dagger in mid-thrust, promting the man to futily pull it out of the hedgehog's telekenetic grasp, which gave Silver more than enough time to blow him away, along with four others soon after.

The chubby woman just sat there, mystified at how one-sided this fight was becoming."Oh, for the love of egg custurd, do I had to kill all the dinner myself?" she complained, tossing aside her hooked blade and unsheathing her new one - an opaque, Fire Nation Jian broadsword. She charged.

Amy turned around just in time to block a swipe from said sword. The woman followed it up with several more."Gah! Silver, help me!"

Silver had two men suspended in the air as turned to see the dilema."Don't worry, Amy, I'll...wow, that's a nice sword..."

"Silver, what are you doing?" Amy inquired as she continued to fed for herself, blocking the blows with her hammer.

"No, I'm serious, that's really nice sword, where you find it?" the future hedgehog wondered.

"Found it in a forest somewhere..." the woman replied before executing a thrust which spun away from, causing the two to switch positions."This isn't funny, Silver!" Amy cried.

"Oh come on, Amy, how many solid black swords do see lately? I don't know about you, but in the future, stuff like that is kind of rare. Is it obsidion? It's gotta be obsidion..." by this time, the two men Silver was holding fell to the ground unconcious.

"Well, I'm sure you could find out if you _take it from her!_" the hedgehogess reminded.

"Oh fine..." Silver mumbled.

The woman pulled back the sword for a nice head-chopping slice before being blasted away at such a speed that the blade breifly floated motionless in the air; she flew all the way into a tree, effectively incapacitating the she-brute.

The sword gracefully floated into the grey hedgehog's hands."Wouldja' look at the craftmanship on this thing..." Silver observed, facinated by his new souviner.

The area rang with a mysterious patting noise...

"What's that?" Silver inquired, looking in multiple directions.

Amy just giggled, resting the hammer on her shoulder."I'd know that sound anywhere..."

_"Hey, guys!"_ called a distant voice.

The two hedgehogs looked over yonder. It was non other than Tails; his proppeler tails stopped spinning as he landed before them.

"Amy, Silver, man am I glad to see you..." Tails beamed; he then looked around,"uhh... did I...miss something here?" he wondered aloud, the clearing resonating with moans from the barely conscious tribesmen.

"Oh, just a little miss understanding is all..." Amy explained jokely.

"So you're here too? That's got to mean the others are around..." Silver deduced,"Did you find anything interesting?"

The young fox chuckled."Boy haven't I? Just wait till you hear where we are this time..."

* * *

**Well, this turned out just fine, worked a little over-time till midnight but I finished the chapter by Monday.**

**Sonic:...**

**...**

**Sonic:...**

**...Don't do it, man...**

**Sonic:...* grins and takes a deep breath * _"Cause every night, I will stay awake...!_ *gets smited with a lightning bolt*...-_-'...**

***sighs* tried to warn you... *looks outside window* Thanks, Cole!**

**Cole Mcgrath:*outside window* No prob'... *grinds away on electric cable***

**Please review! (or the Electric Man'll getcha!)**


	12. Sonic

**Alright, everybody, after a whole year of stalling, and about two and a half days of a hard thought out choice (a shout-out to jakeroo123...), it's time to bring back the only character all you readers **_**really **_**care about!**

**Sonic: Is that why we're in space? *looks out the window***

***in a campy space-type jumpsuit* We'll get to that soon... Ya know, it's really been a year since I began this story. who would've thought this fanfiction came out from watching the Avatar series straight through to the end and listening to various Sonic BGM (particularly the SONIC Unleashed final boss theme and SONIC Riders: Zero gravity theme **_**Un-gravity**_**) along the way?**

**Sonic: A **_**lot **_**of people actually...**

**Before I found this website a couple years ago, I was but a humble YouTuber, surfing to and fro the quench my boredom; until I found something that peaked my interest: a fan-made trailer for **_**Distorted Reality,**_** a nicely done Avatar The Last Airbender fanfic - which sadly has been dicontinued as of July. The contents of said video peaked my interest, especially since it had a link to this website, which I never heard of before. I spent the next week or so reading it bit by bit, until I had a laptop of my own, so I had to find the site and story all over again, and that's when something even **_**more**_** interesting caught my eye: the website featured **_**cross-overs!**_

**And then I thought,"hmm, could there be a Sonic and Avatar cross-over?" I looked it up, and there **_**was one!**_**(although I have to say, I've read better on this site, but the principle was there...)**

**I recall first signing up around my birthday in March of 2010, and that's when I began writing the prologue, which I spent pretty much all of '09 piecing together. It was originally mapped off of the beginnging of SONIC Unleashed, the lastest mainstream Sonic game, but it soon got bigger, incorporating elements from all across the Sonic universe, including Space Colony ARK and Neo Metal Sonic. Unfortunately, My oh-so defenseless laptop was overwhelmed by hundreds of viruses by the time I was typing out Omega's introduction, and I spent the whole Summer of '10 waiting to continue it and mentally refining the story. **

**It was then that I finally got my laptop back, with an anti-virus software to be reckoned with; and, by December 27th, the prologue had been posted, and the real challenge began...**

**Sonic: Yeah so about the ...**

**...So I'd just like to take a moment to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for helping me to realize my apparent literary potential, as well as all of you readers who not one of you gave me any iota of negative feedback.**

**Sonic: I fail to see what this has to do with outer space...**

**Ah, that, it's time for your next scene...**

**Sonic: Which is...?**

***puts on a helmet* Right now. *pulls lever***

***air lock opens***

***pushes Sonic out of opening***

**Sonic:AAAAAAA**_**AAAAAhhhhh...!**_

***closes air lock* I'm gonna miss that little guy... *looks at wrist comunicator* Take us home, Fox!**

**Fox McCloud: *on comunicator***_** You got it!**_

*****_**Great Fox **_**slowly turns around and flys off cinematicly***

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Character Select**

* * *

**Sonic**

* * *

_**Seven days ago...**_

In mere moments, Space Colony ARK completed its inter-dimensional journey, gradually fazing into the reality of a new universe.

Seconds later, a small shockwave appeared next to it as a blue orb rocketed away and toward the new earth.

Sonic struggled defiantly, punching his metallic duplicate with all his might, actually making the mecha flinch as he had his huge fingers wrapped around his furry prey. The blue hedgehog then kicked Metal Sonic hard in where a jaw would be, the merciless robot's grip finally broken. Though he quickly caught the hedgehog again, spinning around at helicopter propeller speeds. Metal Sonic let go, sling-shotting Sonic across the atmosphere.

Neo Metal Sonic's miniacal laughter echoed all around as the surrounding friction caused him to burst into a blue fireball, resembling a meteor as he continued his high-speed descent.

Sonic soared through the sky at ludicrous velocity. Knowing he was going to hit the ground soon, The azure hedgehog's only option was to curl into a ball and hope he was going to land somewhere soft, and he did land.

_***SPLOOOOWSH***_

* * *

"Whadja' 'spose it is, Tho?" Due inquired, resting his bony hands on his hips.

"I'm not sure, Due..." Tho replied, his arms crossed.

"It looks like one 'o them arctic rats..." the skinny tribesmen observed.

The chubby tribesmen looked at his cousin quizzicly."Now how would you know what a arctic rat looks like?"

"Well, the rat's blue; the Water Tribes blue too, ain't it?"

"Now see whatcha' did?" Tho rebuked, pointing his finger,"Ya'll can't make a call like that; the War over. We gots ta' stop stereo-typin' frum now on..."

The cousins heard a groan; they tipped their heads down to see the "rat" slowly regain consciousness."What happened...?" he mumbled.

"Look, Tho! The rat can talk!" Due exclaimed.

"It _ain't_ a arctic rat!"

"Hey! I'm not a rat!" Sonic cried, propping himself up.

"See? Even the _rat_ says so!" Tho continued.

"Who are you guys?" Sonic took a whif,"And why do you smell like a..." he stopped, as he realized what kind of environment he had woke up in,"...swamp..."

"Heh, well I don't what else a swamp-man ought to smell like..." Tho retorted somewhat pridefully.

Perfect; not only did the blue hedgehog not know where he was, he knew that since he was sleeping on his back, he had plenty of swamp smushed into his quills. Lucky him..."Right, well, you guys wouldn't happen to know where any civilization would be, would you?" he asked smiling, regardless of the circumstances.

"...Ci...vil... la..." Due struggled.

The shorter, stalkier waterbender slapped his taller, thinner cousin's shoulder."Dag-blastet, Due, he's talkin' about the city!"

Tho finally snapped his fingers."Oh! he must be talkin' about Omashu!" the tribesman realized. He then began to deliver directions."Now whatcha' wanna do is, ya gotta head up north a couple hunred' miles, then ya come around the Cave o' Two Lovers..."

"Now wait a minute, Due, the Cave o' Two Lovers's west o' Omashu!" Tho reminded.

"No it ain't; I remember havin' ta' go around the cave on account o' comin' back from the Fire Nation..." Due recalled.

"That's cause the Fire Nation's _west_ o' the Cave 'o Two Lovers!"

"Oh; well, anyway, after that, ya head eastward till ya get to Misty Palms Oasis-"

"Good lard, Due! Now yer sendin' 'em straight to the desert!"

"I thank I know my way ta' Omashu, Tho..."

"Well I'm startin' ta' think you _don't_, Due..."

Sonic stared at the bickering cousins blankly; he could tell by now that he had delt with smarter Egg Pawns..."Look uh, I'm sure I'll find the Omashu if I get far enough..." Sonic explained, getting up,"I'm just wasting your time anyway," he turned around,"Oh, and thanks for not trying to eat me or something while I was asleep!" and with that, the blue hedgehog leaped onto the river and sped off.

"But wait! We _was_ gonna eat you!" Due announced.

"Now, Due, why'd ya hafta' go tell 'em that fer? He mighta' turned around!" Tho complained.

* * *

As Sonic navigated through the vast wetland, pulling off all sorts of stunts and what-not, his thoughts started grouping up in order. According to what Metal Sonic had told him, (the jerk, Sonic hoped he landed in a volcano somewhere...) Eggman was sicker of geting beat by Sonic more than Sonic was of having to beat Eggman, so he tried to make a b-line out of his universe, at an attmept to take over another world. He probably figured any universe Sonic wasn't in was worth the risk. Sonic shook his head smirking: poor old Eggman didn't even know Sonic made it by the skin of his gloves; the hedgehog might actually pitty the doctor a little more once he finds out...

His smirk faded when shade of slightly darker blue blurred past him in mid-air, causing him to wobble around for a second before landing not so stylishly on a thick log of a vine. Sonic sighed with relief, only to lookup to see something unexpected: it was Metal Sonic, in his regular form no-less.

Metal Sonic crossed his arms, and signaled his organic other to bring it on before blasting behind along the long, ancient vine.

_Must of been a side-effect of the crash,_ thought Sonic."Where's your lifeform data now, buckethog!" He exclaimed, dashing after him.

The vine wasn't perfectly straight, forcing Sonic to bob and weave and even jump a few times before finaly reaching his oldest rival."I'm-gonna-_get_-cha!" he sang.

Metal Sonic responded by curling up and creating a dark, diamond-shaped force field around himself and slowing down, promting Sonic to cart-wheel over him and run backwards."You'd best be gettin' rid o' those stale moves if you're gonna show your chassy in _my_...Eggman?" he paused as he noticed what was behind Metal Sonic: it was Dr. Eggman, in an older variation of his _EggMobile,_ projecting a yellow lazer beam from the bottom straight down behind his metal doppleganger, laughing all the way.

Sonic could have sworn this picture looked familiar..."What so funny, EggHead? In case you haven't notice, your plan failed again: I made it here! Shouldn't you be fuming like a baby? Or did you finally lose it when you found out?" he gloated, though the doctor kept on laughing.

Just then, Metal Sonic covered himself in a yellow force field, and gunned again for Sonic, who just jumped again and was in the same position as before."Why don't you just lie down somewhere, Eggman? There's nothing you could ever do that would throw me off guard, nothing!" he boasted, before turning his head to the right to what was right next to him: a smaller, chibi-er version of Sonic running along side him. The little Sonic smiled, waved his finger, and winked in the same manner Sonic used to, the real Sonic's eyes literally wider than dinner plates."..._who the_..."

Suddenly, Sonic's foot caught a much younger vine, causing him to fly off of the big vine, bouncing off a few trees until touching down face first into a puddle of swamp mud.

The dirty hedgehog pushed himself up strenuously; he was pretty sure he had enough swamp now..."Okay, that was kinda' random, I'll give you that! But it's gonna take a lot more than some mini-me to take on...me!" he got up, and whiped off what ever dirt and debris he could remove with his hands...until of course he realized there was someone next to him.

Sonic quickly spun to his left to see the oddest sight of the day: it was a bald child floating about seven feet away from him. His body and everything on him was colorless, like a black and white film. He was wearing some kind cerimonial robes; there were glowing arrows on his hands, which he had carefully held close to his chest, and one on his bald head. His eyes were closed. He was covered in a strange, white mist. A wind kicked up, swirling around the two, though it did disturb the mist.

Sonic could only blink at the extra-natural being.

Suddenly, the boy's head gradually ascended to meet Sonic's eyes, slowly opening his own as even more light peered out of them, as if he didn't even have pupils. The light eventually grew too much for Sonic, forcing him to avtert his own eyes, until...nothing.

Sonic turned back, there was no one there. He whipped around in all directions: he was all alone.

"What was that all about?" the blue hedgehog wondered aloud. It could of been that the boy was just an illusion; and if that were true, then the same could been said of his oldest "friends" from a mere minute ago. Sonic suppressed the thought long enough to hop upwards from branch to branch until he made it to the crown of a tree.

Whatever new world the azure hedgehog has landed on, it was definately different from the one he just left; especially if those half-naked guys were any indication - he just hoped not everyone was like that. What he knew for sure was, he was going to have to find his friends and perhaps make some new ones before even considering to go after Eggman, as he recalled the doctor snatching away the Chaos Emeralds at the last minute - that was kind of why he was here in the first place. Maybe he should check out this Omashu?

Despite the overwhelming conditions, Sonic The Hedgehog was off to the distance, and he had his game face on, as he knew the minor setback was the dawn of a new adventure like never before...


	13. Cannon's Core, Part 1

**It's kind of a shame really...**

**Deadpool: How do you figure that? Not only did ya finish the chapter before christmas and save enough time to breath, but you also got Batman: Arkham City for said holiday, **_**along **_**with New Year's vacation. I don't exactly have a "detective mode" so ya mind pontin' out the shame part?**

**It's a shame because I didn't have enough time to reintroduce the other three characters (Mighty, Ray, and Omega); if I added two more parts, then Sonic would've made seven.**

**Deadpool:...So?**

**Ya know, the **_**seventh**_** part of the **_**seventh**_** chapter...**

**Deadpool:...**

**...**

**Deadpool:...**

**...**

**Deadpool:...You... are aware I'm not a Sonic character, right? **

**THERE ARE SEVEN CHAOS EMERALDS!**

**Deadpool:...I don't get it...**

***groans* **_**On with the story...**_**(Oh snap, I just realized! Character Select wasn't chapter seven, it was chapter **_**five**_**! Though technically, it was the **_**seventh **_**update, so that must count for something...)**

* * *

_**Previously...on Avatar...**_

_Even futher strange, the legless creature extended both its arms at the unsuspecting Toph. Suddenly, a yellow ball of pure light manifested between its palms._

_"...Aang?..."_

_"TOPH, LOOK OUT!" _

_Toph gasped, and quickly jerked up a rock slab at the last second. The entire stage was engulfed in fire-born smoke..._

_*FLASH*_

_"...An unofficial report has come from the Boiling Rock. The facility has just been..." he panted still,"...raided."_

_"Raided? By who?" The Fire Lord demanded._

_*FLASH*_

_"All inmates are accounted for, mi-..." the messenger haulted, then forcefully swallowed his fear,"...minus one..." _

_A gallon of horror played all over his face, for no one had to inform the young monarch that the one in question was not simply some random theif, arsonist, or even a former terrorist: it was her._

_"__**Get out**__..." Zuko hissed._

_*FLASH*_

_"Today's your birthday?" Katara vocalized rather loudly._

_The Avatar immediately shot his hands toward her as a sign to lower her voice."Sssshhhh! Will you keep it down? The whole world doesn't have to know!" he yell/whispered._

_*FLASH*_

_"LET HER GO!" Aang roared, spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees and sending a liquid missle straight for its head; however, in the blink of an eye, the thing vanished in an almost imperceptible flash of bluish-green with his girlfriend altogether, the projectile slamming into the roof shingles instead, followed by an abrupt silence..._

_*FLASH*_

_"What's going on? Where are we?" demanded the young waterbender._

_The former princess was frozen in her tension for a moment, but sighed as she let her fireing arm go limp."Of course," she muttered,"Just go right ahead and assume that I have somehow kidnapped you out of the clear blue sky, and imprisoned you within some random fortress; I mean, why else would I be trapped in here to, right?" she inquired sarcasticly._

_Katara was momentarily thrown off guard by her comment, logic sinking in a second and a half later,"...Oh, well sorry, I didn't-"_

_"Well, you should've," Azula snapped,"There are other bad people in the world besides me, believe ot not..."_

_*FLASH*_

_"...We need to look further into this," Aang announced to the group, getting up from his seat and facing them,"Katara's somewhere in trouble, and we can't stop the search no matter what, not for any other emergency."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Are you saying that," Suki began,"they literally just manifested themselves, destroyed the place, then dissappeared into thin air?"_

_The warden nodded,"...both times in a breif flash of light; greenish I think..."_

_"Just like Katara..." the young Avatar mumbled,stopping comepletely,"I knew it! There is a connection!" he shouted, walking off and leaning on the rail._

_*FLASH*_

_" 'Space station' ?" Toph repeated,"You mean station... in SPACE?"_

_"Well, what do you know, I was just on the verge of thinking about you..." Dr. Eggman began slowly, revolving around and revealing himself to the fire, water, and earthbenders._

_*FLASH*_

_"MY SISTER'S IN OUTER WHERE?" Sokka exclaimed._

_"She has to be; I had that vision for a reason, and this is it," the Avatar explained._

_*FLASH*_

_The servant once again endeavored to catch his breath."...This... item was... found... on the... stairway to... the palace..." he explained, laying the large object before the group... _

_*FLASH*_

_"Who are you, and why have you attacked my country!" the Fire Lord demanded, rising from his seat._

_"Oh, just a humble inventor looking to setup shop in a new area. In this case: the planet."_

_*FLASH*_

_"You see," he began,"When I first made it to your world but a week ago, an unfornate 'accident' lead me to lose a very precious artifact of mine; one of seven, actually: an ivory jewel, that glows like the brightest lanturn," the scientist explained, the holographic Sokka taking a double-take,"It plummeted away from my humble abode all the way down to this planet, where it landed somewhere in this region."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Okay..." Aang exhaled,"So, if we find this jewel, you'd be willing to exange Katara, Azula, __and__ Toph for it?"_

_*FLASH*_

_"What's going to go, Avatar Aang?: a jewel that can convert thoughts into power, or some girl you may or may not be engaged to one day?"_

_*FLASH*_

_"We're going to have to widen our gaze a bit if we can ever hope to think on his level," Zuko said._

_"But how would we do that?" the warrior inquired,"How __could__ we do it? If we're all just a bunch of animals compared to this guy, how would we ever be able to find the jewel in the first place? We don't even know what the blasted rock looks like!"_

_"I do..." _

_"What did you say?" Aang inquired._

_*FLASH*_

_But it was true, It was nobody's imagination; the voice belonged to Sokka, who seemed just tormented as he raised his head to speak further, but masked it with the deepest look of determination the Water Tribe teen's worn since the Battle of Wulong Forest._

_"I know what happened to the Chaos Emerald."_

_*FLASH*_

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Six:**

**The Search for the Chaos Emerald**

* * *

Azula slowly awakened, rubbing her forehead. She turned her attention to the status of the room: Katara and Toph were sitting on the middle bed quietly, and the door was clearly unscathed.

"Huh, must've dozed off again..." the former princess presumed,"I had another weird dream to..." she began,"I dreamt we made it out of the room, only to realize we were in outer space, then some metal gorilla took us to this huge pillar, and we met this egg-shaped man who said he was going to take over the world...and then a chicken ate me...So, did I miss anything?"

_"Dinner Tiiiime!"_ sang Eggman's voice through the intercom, a slot popping out on the wall of each bed, each one carrying a toasted cucumber sandwitch cut in diagonal halves.

"...never mind then..."

The waterbender sighed, got up, and paced over to the firebender."Are you okay?"

"Well, I do have a bit of a headache but-"

***slap***

"-ow!"

"What is wrong with you?" Katara exclaimed,"How could you just throw our lives on the table like that? What, were you trying to 'commendeer' the whole space fortress or something?" she demanded.

Azula rolled her eyed as she rubbed her cheek."I was _trying_ to gain even ground against him, so we could make a deal..."

"Even ground? _WHAT _EVEN GROUND? '_Eggman'_ is probably sitting in his chair, laughing to himself about how someone could even think they're on par with him! This station alone makes the Fire Nation look like the Foggy Swamp Tribe!"

"Oh please, there's not one thing this man has that the Fire Nation invented a decade ago; it's simply, well, on a larger scale is all. I doubt this place even belongs to him..." the firebender replied whilst picking up her "dinner" and taking a bite out of it,"...mm, cucumber..."

The waterbender couldn't believe her eyes."Ugh, you've lost your mind!" she declared, stomping back to Toph's bed as her subconscious inquired what her first clue was.

The Bandit lied on her bed properly with her left arm folded under her head, eating her sandwitch." 'Think your dinner's on the other bed..." she reminded.

"I'm not hungry..." Katara replied, lying paralled to the blind girl,"I don't get it; if he wants to take over the world, why doesn't he just do it already? He could probably pull it off overnight."

"Yeah, I stopped questioning stuff a long time ago, makes life simpler..." Toph said, taking another bite.

"If he has to imprison us, could he atleast've taken Sokka too? Atleast _he _would have gotten a kick out of those machines that could waterb-" the girl paused, an oven timer going off in her head,"...I ...am going...TO-"

* * *

"-KILL YOU!" Hakoda roared,"You mean to tell me that after some space guy comes and kidnapps your sister, and declares war on the whole stinkin' world, you pick _just NOW_ to let us know that you had a heads up on this? _And _you buried the evidence? Why, Sokka? How could you lie to your family like this!"

Aang sat in his spot, his head lowered; Zuko was still staring at the shard of technological wonder, thinking deeply; Mai leaned behind one column, doing what she does best; Suki stood near the end of the room, her eyes closed and not even facing her boyfriend.

"B-But I wasn't lying! I didn't know about all of this; I thought once the emerald was gone, that would be it! No more broken universe!" the son of Hakoda tried to explain, sitting on the floor with his back to another pillar.

Bato scoffed."_Well, _it would've been nice to know that someone close and trusted had a run-in with a couple elemental demons and a magic rock that could decide the fate of the whole world! For that matter, how do you even know its name at all?" The veteran demanded.

"Because the montser asked me! It would've blown me to bits and I didn't even know what it was talking about!"

"Oh, okay, Sokka, so the machine could _talk_ now?" his father queried.

"You guys are acting like you would've believed him..." the Avatar spoke up.

Hakoda turned towards the speaker."Are you telling me how to raise my son?"

Aang's position persisted."Sokka could have told all of us, but you would of laughed at him, or thought he was as crazy as I was, and _nothing_ would change. There was not one thing that could've prepared us for what happened," the Air Nomad said it like a straight up earthbender.

Silence.

The chief seemed so charged full of anguish and denial, his fingers tightened around the handle of his machete, and before anyone else could react, he spun around and slammed the bone blade against the column so hard, it snapped in half; the hallway was burdened with its cold echo.

The man dropped his weapon, and fell to his knees. It was then that the teen warriror saw something in his father that not even Bato had seen for over twenty years: teardrops, streaming down from the chief's eyes.

_"...please... save my daughter...I can't go through this again..." _

Even Bato's eyes trembled at the sight.

At that moment, something jogged the Fire Lord back to awareness."I just had an epiffany...Aang, Sokka, come with me, there's something I need to show you," Zuko announced, tossing away the shard and leaving for the exit.

Sokka and Aang hesitantly complied.

Before making it through the drapes, the former waterbender took one more look at Suki, who was turned the other way."I'll fix this; I promise..." he said.

The Kyoshi Warrior ressisted the erge to turn around."...just go..." she mumbled.

Sokka blinked, and left in slight dissapointment.

* * *

"...sssooo... Sokka cheated?" Toph asked for confirmation.

"You're darn right he cheated!" the enlightened waterbender continued, pacing around the room like a caged animal, rubbing her hands excessively, "I knew he he wasn't a bender; he can't even bend a spoon, that cheating, cheater...cheat-face!" she struggled for the appropriate fake term.

"And _that's _why you're angry?" the firebender inquired, raising a brow.

Katara spun around."Uhhhh, _yeah! _Why else would I be pacing around the room like a caged animal, _rubbing my hands excessively_?" she replied, briefly increasing her rate of hand rubbing for emphasis, as she was most likely formulating some manner of dispicable deed that Gran Gran would probably rebuke.

"...Because, if I were to acertain the notion that Zuko used some firebending-enhancing contraption during our last duel, I would've been less miffed by the means and more focus toward the condition..."

"Do you talk just so you can show off your vocabulary?" Katara retorted.

The former princess rolled her eyes sighing; she hoped she wouldn't have to be the one to break this down for the naive peasant."Let's see if we can convert this into a simple logic puzzle," she arose from her bed,"Ember Island is down there, the 'waterbending machines' are up here, with several dozens miles of nothing in-between," she took a step closer,"and you have Sokka, an inteligent and well meaning lad from the Southern Water Tribe, who's insecurity among his skilled friends is only rivaled by his ability to keep secrets," she took two steps closer, tapping her chin,"Now, we ourselves are still unsure of the method utilized to and from this station; and, as far as we have witnessed, may only be accessible by our special host..."

"So what're you saying?" the Water Chief's daughter demanded.

"She's saying that somebody had to conveniently put it on Ember Island on purpose, at a specific time where another somebody would conveniently stumble upon it," Toph translated.

The waterbender's gaze shifted between the two captives, the logic puzzle finally solved."...y-You two can't be serious I...why would...how could you even..."

"Hey, I'm not pointin' any fingers-"

"I am," Azula countered sharply,"in fact, I'm just crazy enough to think that that pony-tailed cretin not only knew this was going to happen, but personaly selected us as the hostages..."

_"Shut up..."_ Katara uttered weekly, crossing her arms and turning away.

"Really, you can't deny the odds of it being us in particular out of any noble or political figure on the planet. Dr. Robotnik could've taken King Bumi, my brother, or even the Avatar himself in addition - just as easily - but no," she spreads her hands, drawing closer,"_just us_, the three people who just happened to have mocked a certian meat-loving skeptic more than anyone else," she was now three feet away from the waterbender,"Think about it, think about how deep this could be: months ago, even before the War ended, all this could have been planned out..." she finished slowly.

"Shut up or I'll make you shut up!" Katara cried.

Not even remotely intimidated, Azula's dramatic demeanor vanished."Fine," she replied, letting her arms go limp,"go ahead and stay in your happy little state of complete denial; it worked for Ba Sing Se just fine," the former princess lamented insensitively, pacing back to her bed and scooting under the covers,"All I ask is that when you get launched into deep space, your brother's power driven eyes the last thing you see, just remember - the evil phycho princess tried to warn you."

At the end of the dialogue, the water found her standing frozen in the middle of the room, her arms still crossed, and actually ruffled them tightly, the sudden coldness settling in.

* * *

A little while later, the three boys were walking down a narrow underground tunnel, lit by the Fire Lord himself; the path was supported with wooden beams, signifying how old it was.

"Where are we going, Zuko?" the Avatar inquired.

"Don't worry, we're almost there..." the monarch reassured.

"Did you see my dad back there? I've never seen him so...broken, so...helpless...guess it must run in the family..." Sokka added, trapped somewhere between guilt and empathy.

"You're not helpless, Sokka," Zuko responded,"in fact, we all would've ended up like that if it wasn't for your run-in with that creature you were talking about. Speaking of which, you told me that thing-"

"It wasn't a _'thing'_," Sokka suddenly snapped.

"Of course not. Anyway, you said it was able to fake waterbending for you, and that it must've had this 'Chaos Emerald' the whole time. I wondering: when you got close to him, close enough to see the emerald I mean, was there some kind of...side-effect that was worth remembering? I mean, did you feel anything?"

The former waterbender allowed the question to fertilize in his brain for a moment."...Well, I don't remember feeling anything then, but, I do remember something during the duel..." he recalled,"when I was fighting Katara, I felt better than before - stronger, faster; I hit the rock she was standing on with my heel so hard, it chipped off a little, and it didn't hurt at all. And even after that, when that...what ever it was still had the emerald, he was twice as tall as he was after he got rid of it. That's all."

"I see, so the Chaos Emerald made you stronger the same way Sozin's Comet makes firebending stronger..." Zuko deduced,"Thanks Sokka; that'll be good to know once we find it..."

The Avatar popped out of his bubble of conviction."Uh, I'm sorry, but when you said that thing about finding the emerald, you made it sound kind of _possible_. I'm pretty sure the monster knew what he was doing when he threw it into the ocean; ya'know, 'never to found again'?"

As if carefully timed, the trio stopped in front of a large metal door, with a small slot on the side.

The Fire Lord smiled, removing his royal headpiece.

"Let me guess: another Fire Nation secret?" Sokka inquired.

"_Top _secret..." Zuko replied, inserting the piece into the apparent keyhole, turned it counter-clockwise, then after a _click_, clockwise - another _click_. The sound of various spinning cogs and shifting gears could be heard. Timing it just right, the Fire Lord pulled out the headpiece, the door(s) splitting apart a moment later, revealing to the two a huge underground dock - lit by two enormous torches on each side - complete with one river boat, and a full work force.

_"wow..."_ Aang mumbled.

"Who'd of thought this place was down here?" Sokka wondered.

"Six hundred years ago, Fire Lord Kazuya discovered this cove and made it into an emergency escape system during the Scourge of Heihachi. He never had to use it though, but it's been maintained and monitored to this day regardless," Zuko explained.

As Aang and Sokka observed, the port was outstretched around the cove, surrounding the spacious pool of water between the boat and the narrow exit. Workmen were hauling debris up from the surface via long nets, and dropped into metal carts, which were push on a track through a tunnel on either side of the entrance, probably to dump the debris into a nearby magma pit.

As he observed this endless cycle, the Avatar realized something."Hang on, if the tunnel we just came through was the only entrance, how do these guys get out?" he inquired to Zuko, who looked away.

"Actually, they don't. The workmen you see actually live down here; most of these people have been here a very long time..." the Fire Lord luminated sheepishly.

One of the somewhere-above-middle-aged workers stopped to see the arrivals."Hey, that's a pretty authentic Air Nomad outfit you got there," he remarked, he then turned to Zuko, and gasped."My goodnes! Prince Ozai, what happened to your eye!" he exclaimed in shock.

"And why are you wearing the Fire Lord's headpiece?" queried another worker."Oh, Fire Lord Azulon won't be happy when he finds out..." the man shook his head as he resumed pushing his cart.

"Ozai" leaned closer to Sokka._"The_ _decision to update the staff is still up for debate..."_

The Air Nomad rolled his eyes."Back to the subject: how is some secret boat going to help us save the universe?"

Zuko folded his arms behind him."You see, a chief liability with this dock is that it's prone to oceanic debris flowing in and clogging the escape route, which is why it has to attended to so thoroughly."

"This cave's not gettin' any brighter, Zuko..." Sokka erged on.

"A couple oceanographers allowed to be in on the secret speculate that most of the deris originates from the _general northwest._"

The young Avatar finally caught on."So you think the Chaos Emerald might've flowed in from Ember Island?"

The Fire Lord nodded."I know it's a stretch, but's the one chance we've got if we're going to save the girls."

"Zuko, your logic is off; even if the emerald was here, it was probably disposed of like the rest of the garbage!" Sokka pointed out.

"I'm aware of that, I'm also aware that if we don't try everything, one-hundred years of fighting and bloodshed will have gone in vain, for _either side_. Now listen, I need the two of you to tell these workers you have the Fire Lord's clearance to hault progress so that they can begin searching the cove for the Chaos Emerald. I'll be fortifying the palace incase this Eggman tries to go back on his deal - remember: he thinks we have it. And if it turns out we do, head for the royal bunker immediately to let me know."

As Zuko turned around to leave, the Avatar chirped as if he were about to say something. The Fire Lord noticed this, partialy turning back.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," Aang said, rubbng the back of his neck,"It just seems like...well, that you're a bit more focused on finding this emerald than your sister..."

"Aang, didn't you hear what Sokka said? It made him as strong as a komodo rhino without even touching it; that's an item I would prefer to have for myself."

Aang's concerned gaze never faultered.

The former enemy sighed."You know what I mean. Just find it, alright?"

With that, the young ruler departed, and Sokka and Aang (with a hint of hesitation) carried out his orders.

* * *

Ten minutes followed, and reinforcment procedure had begun.

Military personel scrambled throughout the palace city, escorting various nobles and other aristocrats as calmly as possible to airships that would take them to Ember Island for the night. The turrets surrounding the main entrance to the island itself were prepped and loaded as other defences were prepared. Tanks and komodo rhinomen rode in through every street and plaza until the entire dormant volcano was secured - if the nation had such a thing as Death-Con 1, this would be it.

Zuko and Mai beheld this from just outside the main hall.

"So much for world peace..." the goth lamented,"Only this time, it's the Fire Nation who's trying to save the world."

"I know these measures won't make a difference," the Fire Lord predicted," but I'm not about to give up without a fight either," he boldly declared.

"Yeah, sure, just like what the knife says," Mai dissmissed,"Anyway, I don't mean to break character, but it's pretty nice of you to let me and my family stay in the Fire Lord's bunker for the night," she gratified, actually cracking a small smile.

At this complement, Zuko's normally stoic expression dissappeared." ...Say what?"

Mai's smile dropped."You know, you said we could spend the night in your bunker as a precaution...you did say that, right?" she inquired.

The sheepish monarch looked off in another direction, scratching his neck."Oh, that, well, see, what I meant was that...you and I would be staying in _my _bunker - alone - and that your family would be in the uh...other bunker..." he explained.

Mai grew confused."Other bunker?"

"Yes, there's another bunker," he nodded.

Mai's blank expression returned."You mean, Azula's bunker?"

"The one she used during the eclipse, yes."

Mai's expression lost even more emotion."You mean the bigger, more obvious, more _vulnerable _bunker that was really meant to be a decoy bunker while the Fire Lord and who ever else given loved one are safely concealed behind a secret stairway the whole time? That bunker?"

"...th...the same," Zuko confirmed, finally catching on.

Mai's face had now acheived its zeneth of deadness."...Yeah, I'm out of here," she replied, walking away in any direction that wasn't her former boyfriend's.

The Fire Lord urgently waved his hand for the girl to turn around."Wait, Mai! You're taking this out of proportion! I mean, with your parents preoccupied, we could let our relationship develop more naturaly!"

_"Out. Of. Here."_ she emphazised.

"er-Okay, so 'preoccupied' was the wrong word but...Mai! Come back!" The Fire Lord slapped his forehead; it seem as if his life was flipping more upside-down by the hour.

* * *

Meanwhile, the boys, along with the rest of the dockmen, continued their search for the fabled jewel; Aang pulled the debris up and out with his waterbending, and Sokka had to use a net just like everyone else.

"Find the Chaos Emerald yet?" the Avatar inquired rhetoricly.

"Nope," the warrior answered regardless.

Aang sighed."Well, even if we don't save the universe, we could always apply for some sort of post-apocalyptic pool cleaning service..." he mused glibly.

The cove grew colder at the prospect of not being able to save the world...

"...So, have you uhh...heard the rumors?" Sokka brought up, trying to lighten the mood.

"Does it have anything to do with living machines?" Aang counter-asked.

A noticable cringe from the young warrior."It's actually some stuff about about a blue spirit," he explained.

At the last two words, the Air Nomad haulted his junk gathering cycle and turned to his friend."You mean Zuko?"

"Well, maybe not _the_ Blue Spirit, but it's definately a spirit that is blue. There've been sightings all over the world since the...World Peace thing...er-Seriously, I saw it on a news post," Sokka stamered, trying not to say "meteor".

Ironicly, Aang grew skeptical."All over the world? In one week? Either this is some kind of prank, or this 'spirit' can run really, really..."

_"Ssh!"_ Sokka interrupted, the entire chamber resonating with a familiar ringing,"...Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" the Avatar inquiried, hearing nothing but his own echo.

In a rather spontanious instance, the teen tossed his net aside and dove into the water.

"Sokka? What're you doing!" Aang exclaimed, leaping in after him.

Sokka descended further and further beneath the surface, gradually losing both light and oxygen, though the swordsmen-in-training paid no mind, the noise growing to his ears.

Aang intercepted the non-bender, carrying a large bubble behind him.

Two feet from the bottom, the teen jerked his upper half in multiple directions, desperately searching for it even under near total blackness._ No, it has to be down here. _It then came to him...

Without hesitation, Sokka started to claw into the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust as he began to lose conscousness, but not darkness nor lack of breath hindered the warrior. He dug, and dug, and dug, and dug, until...the darkness faded as a mysterious white enveloped the teens face.

Aang spun around to see what looked like his friend, picking up and caressing the source of the sudden lumination with wide eyes. The Avatar immediately dashed for his comrad, swinging the bubble to his front, covering the two, and condensing it into a thick ice dome, thus providing them both with an ample air supply, along with a clear view of the object for them to behold...

_"You found it..."_ Aang breathed as he stabelized the air pocket, for resting between Sokka's hands was the one item that couls seemingly solve the dilema at hand: the ivory Chaos Emerald.

"I found it...I FOOUUND IIIT!" Sokka cheered at the top of his lungs, the two both dancing in absolute joy at their first sign of hope and providence - the boys hadn't felt this good for over a week."Alright, buddy, now let's get outta this cave and show this to Zuko: we got a world to save!" he announced cinamaticly, raising the emerald up in a cliche anime-like pose.

Aang's smile fell to the ground at this."...ttddduhhh, actually, I don't think we should tell him..."

The warrior was frozen in his pose."...saywha'?" he inquiried, still smiling and only able to move his eyes.

"I was thinking, maybe, we could keep this to ourselves? Atleast until tomarrow?" he requested, shrugging.

"ARE YOU NUTS!" he shreiked,"THAT'S GOTTA BE HANDS-DOWN THE MOST IDIOTICLY STUPIDEST INTERROGITVE EVER TO BE EXTRACTED FROM YOUR POOR EXCUSE FOR A CEREBELLUM! I MEAN IT'S RIGHT UP THERE WITH-"

The surrounding dockmen gained curious expressions as they heard a bizzarre scwawking sound muffled beneath the water...

"-GIANT FRIENDLY MUSHROOM! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF SUCH A THING?" Sokka demanded.

The young Avatar looked away."I just don't feel comfortable with Zuko knowing we found the emerald; don't I have an opinion?"

The former waterbender dragged his cheeks down with his free hand."Aang, is this honestly the time to go into those 'not-trusting-Zuko-just-cause-he's-the-Fire-Lord fits?" he asked exasperatedly.

"I just don't know anymore, Sokka," Aang consigned,"ever since the Day of Black Sun, I can tell what I can count on..."

"In that case, I'm sure it coudn't hurt to put a little faith in the scarred, angry but morally stable prince who threw away his very birthright to help you restore balance to the world!" the teen reminded,"So if you're not gonna take us back up, I'm going myself," he concluded, producing his club and preparing to make a door through the dome.

The airbender laid his own hands upon the jewel,"Look, I have never doubted your instincts even after you led us right into that Fire Nation camp when we met Jet: now it's the Avatar's turn - I don't want to give it to him," Aang commanded.

Sokka pulled the emerald closer to himself."Do you want save Katara and Toph or not?"

The Avatar pulled it more to himself."What I _don't_ want is for the emerald to fall into the wrong hands."

Back to Sokka."Do I have to say this out loud? Zuko does not want to use the Chaos Emerald to take over the world!"

Back to Aang."Yes he does! Did you see that flare in his eyes? He was practicaly _drooling_ over the possibilities..." he over-dramatized.

Right under their noses, the emerald seemed to intensify in glow parrallel with their escalating temperments...

"Aang, there is no flare; he looks like that all the time, even when he's going to the bathroom!"

"I don't care! It's mycall, and I say no!"

"We are holding _pure chaos_ in the palms of our hands! Chaos that must be controled!"

At that very moment, the Chaos Emerald sparkled with multiple electrical currents, its glow brightening well beyond conspicuous. The teen and pre-teen were compelled to look down at it.

"...uuumm..." was all Aang had left to say.

Without warning, the two were soon engulfed in an astonishing spectacle of light.

_*FLASH*_

A pair of dockmen witnessed a semblence of a spark under the surface; they turned to eachother with worried faces.

* * *

In another flash, the bender and non-bender plopped onto a metallic surface.

They groggily arose, moaning and clutching their foreheads.

Sokka sighed."Well, see what I mean? This is exactly why-" the former waterbender froze after turning around, his eyes bulged out of his sockets,"..._Aang...whatever you do, don't look out the window..._" he squeaked.

The boy opened his own eyes."Window? There's no window all the way down-" the Avatar turned around,"...oh..." he mumbled as he realized they were no longer underwater, in the cave, at the palace, within the Fire Nation, or even on the earth itself. They knew this because they currently had a nice view of the planet's horizon...through the window of an aformentioned space station.


	14. Cannon's Core, Part 2

**Oh yeah! Chapter Seven for real, baby! High Five! *raises hand***

***cricket chirp...***

**...Oh yeah, I pushed Sonic outta the...erm-Well! Prepare to be suprised, readers, cause' if you think I'm just gonna let the Sonic characters mow right on over the Avatar world, then you better...du...do what I just said!**

**On with the story!**

* * *

**Book Four:**

**Metal**

**Chapter Seven:**

**Cooperation**

* * *

The Fire Lord stood there, leaning against the railing of his bedroom's balcony, clearly in deep thought.

"Having girl troubles, my lord?" Inquired a deep male voice behind.

Despite the curcumstances, Zuko smiled at the sound of the voice, though he didn't turn around."There you are," he greeted,"I was wondering where you've been since I got back..."

"Just mobilizing the airships; you never know when over-head support is needed," the apparently esteemed man replied.

Zuko exhaled."So, what're telling our men?"

"Just to arm-up for the strong chance of an impending terrorist attack."

"That's true enough; I wish we could've told them more, though..."The monarch lamented. For some reason, Zuko always found his presence relieving, like everything was under control before he even walked in the room.

"Trust me, my lord: It's best not to dwell on what could've been - the less your personel is concern for your sanity, the better," he reassured,"Now, I believe it's far past your bedtime, my lord; I'll see to it that the Avatar finds the emerald before midnight, and by tomarrow morning, we will have pieced together the perfect strategy for rescueing your sister."

Normally, the Fire Lord wouldn't have such a thing, but he really felt he was able to put faith into this single person, almost as much as Aang. Perhaps it was his Earth Kingdom background that made his ideals seem so firm.

As the figure preceded to exit, the scarred teen turned around, still smiling warmly."Y'know, that's one of the central reason's I picked you to be my advisor, Long Feng, you really do know how to take hold of a situation."

"_It's a gift..._" the former secretariat mumbled on his way out.

* * *

"HOW THE HECK DID WE GET UP HERE?" the Avatar finally freaked out, clutching his cranium,"WHAT'S GOING ON? That's it, I can't do this anymore! I'm turnin' in my arrow and growin' a beard! This is too much for me, man! "

As the distraught airbender went on, Sokka stood motionless, peering out the long window the parelled the length of the hallway, the gravity of the situation almost crushed the teen. However, as the warrior gave it a second thought, a wide smile encompassed his face; though it dissappeared as he observed his companion...

"Oh, great holy pubaa of hard-boiled monkey-rolls, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO MEEEEE-"

"Aang, AANG, RELAX!" Sokka exclaimed, grabbing the poor boy by the collar and smacking him across his cheek.

The shaken Avatar came back to his senses, breathing audibly."...thanks...I needed that..." he swallowed,"but what do you expect? This is the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen."

"No, we're exactly where we wanna be!" the teen announced.

"Sokka, I may have completely lost my composure not but eleven seconds ago but I'm still working on the knowledge that this the last point in the universe we should be standing right now..."

"Think about it: Eggman would never expect this, not if we didn't; at this hour, he's probably asleep! All we have to do is sneak around a bit, find the girls, and then all his leverage goes right out the window!" he paused,"...figuratively speaking, that is...Then, _you _go all Avatar State, force'em to show us how to get down, and bingobango, we save the universe!"

"Yeah sure, _bingobango_, you make him sound like just another Admiral Zhao. We haven't the frailest idea what's in store for us up here, _or_ how badly being in space will affect my bending; I'd be half an Avatar, maybe even less than..." Aang stopped, gasping as he caught sight of an enormeous red anomoly passing by,"_hide!_"

They both ducked under the window, taking a short peek - it was one of Eggman's battleships; the two anxiously waited for the huge vessel to gradually pass by...

_"See what I mean?"_ Aang continued.

_"Listen, we can still pull this off. Now you go find Eggman while I look for my sister, friend, and non-friend; take this with you..."_ Sokka said picking up the emerald.

_"That's even worse!"_ thr airbender replied,_"You wanna wander around this place __on your own__?"_

Sokka took another peek out the window - the ship was gone."Look, this emerald brought us here for a reason; and if we don't treat this oppertunity like it's a gift from Heaven, he'll just imprison us when he finds out _and _have the emerald."

"Then why would you want me to have the emerald if I'm supposed to look for him?" Aang inquired as they both rose.

"Because it'll make you stronger, just think! You might not have to use the Avatar State against Eggman at all..." Sokka mused, holding the jewel up to Aang."So I don't know about you, but I just got through making a promise to my girlfriend that I would fix this mess whether I had something to do with it or not, and I am going to...even if I have to take their place..." the future chieftian resoluted, displaying how far this apple didn't fall from the tree after all.

The Avatar took the Chaos Emerald with both hands, and stared at it deeply, and same to Sokka, who responed by continuing his austere gaze - back at the jewel.

After a long moment of tension, the boy spoke, and smiled as he did."Y'know, I don't care how many times I hear that name: it'll never sound intimidating..." he replied.

Sokka briefly clasped his hands around the emerald with a grin of his own, and they both seperated to perform the tasks given to them. The search was on.

_**Lost Colony**_

_No air, no water, no earth, no life. . . _

Aang never thought that space could be so dead. On his world as the inhabitants bent the elements, there was a supernatural flow; a push and pull. There was harmony; there was life.

But here, in this. . .what could he call it? Fortress? Ship? There was nothing but cogs and bolts. He hated the sense of oppression. It was as though this machine world was built for sole purpose of defying

all things sacred. He felt like a fish in a tank, separated, isolated, but still contained; as if his links to the spirit world were even cut.

_I hate this place. As soon I find Katara and the others, I'll find some way to get off this ship and get as far away as I can._

Or, he could destroy the whole thing if it were possible, once he and his companions had escaped this dead ship.

Aang noticed the pipes that were above him. They trailed across the ceiling, down the hall. Thankfully there were small amounts of water in them and he would, now and then, raise a hand to feel the flow

of the water, in order to measure the distance of the halled he trekked, the various intersections, and floors of this iron labyrinth: it seemed to go on forever.

Occasionally, he felt a. . .presence. It was something like water, but not quite. It disturbed him. He had no idea wat to expect here, yet the Avatar felt that whatever was here expected him. He felt like he was being watched, that ceilings had eyes, trailing his every move. But it didn't matter.

Aang wasn't here to hide; he was here to save his friends. . .and Sokka inevitibly. Stealth wasn't Aang's strong point; and now that the nomad thought about it, it was a pity that Zuko hadn't been taken with him and Sokka being stealth was his expertise.

Aang tried not to lose focus and allow his mind to be drowned out with thoughts, but the dead silence of this steel cave made it impossible. His breath even felt too loud. . .

He pasted a series of long, rectangular windows, seeing the expanse of the heavens: it comforted him.

He continued walking until he reached a set of double doors that he hoped were not locked. Despite there menacing size, they gently opened as soon as he was in 3 feet of them. At least that wasn't difficult.

And as Ange stepped through the opening, he walked in, to his suprise. . .a large intersection, with more halls. . .

The young Avatar rubbed the back of his head. "Some how..." he mused.

And he looked down, noticing his shadow growing, as well as the reflection on the gleeming metal surface of the floor. . .

_. . .he had one second. . ._

Aang quickly rolled to the right before a large, blue mechanical creature nearly crushed him to pulp, Its iron feet tore through the floor. The thing was nearly twice his height, weilding a thick metallic clubsword to match its color scheme, its eyes and grinning teeth, a cold pale pink light, dead as the world around him.

The thing swung its weapon down at the Avatar.

Aang side stepped.

It missed, denting the steel floor with a thunderous clang.

The thing follwed up with a violent back swing.

Aang ducks.

It misses, the clubsword ripping into steel pipes.

The weapon is lodged into the steel. . .

_Here's his opening..._

Aang leaps towards to the machine and delivers a devastating side kick, delivering an air blast that knocks the metal beast away so hard, its arm is still imbedded in the wall.

Aang walks up to the metal monster, electricity pouring out of its cybernetic wounds.

"You can't fight any more," the pacifist monk declares,"I know you can talk. Where's Eggman? And where 're my. . ."

Another iron warrior violently lands behind Aang and attempts to crush him with its own blade.

The Avatar dodges and the crippled machine is crushed beneath its allies' weapon.

"Hey!" Aang shouted, "He was on your side...!" But the way the second machine steps on the steal corpse and pries its clubsword from the first's shattered remains shows that it doesn't seem to care much for teams.

The metal monster charges Aang as mindlessly as the other. Time slows.

_The boy's eyes look to left of the charging metal beast. Aang sees the torn ligament that still stuck in the wall, steam billowing around the gash under pressure._

_Steam is water and air._

Aang quickly flexes his fist, building up the pressurized steam, and the metal sword-ligament is blasted from steel wall, impaling the charging machine.

It falls on its face, motionless...

Aang's guard lowered, he paced over to the sparkling remains; he simply couldn't believe that these things were just machines; though, on the same token, it was just as difficult to observe their frozen faces - their lidless eyes, those wide grins literaly welded into their heads - and conclude they were once alive. _How could living things __**bleed **__electricity?_

Soon after, he went on about his business; at least now he had an idea of what he was dealing with. But one thing was for sure: there were more than that to beware - alot more - and the Avatar had a feeling that subtlty wasn't going to cut it: he was going to have to fight his way through this vessel...

_**The Doom**_

The dusty, greenish hallway echoed with the sound of nervous whistleing...or at least it would have, per chance that Sokka actualy knew how to whistle, as the only sound to be heard was more akin to rasberrying in one's sleep.

So far, the young warrior has been pretty lucky. That is, he'd yet to cross paths with any machine creatures; gaining any clue to where Katara was - not so much. Sokka couldn't tell if it was the simple truth that he was no longer on the earth (at least during the _War_, fleeing for home was an option...), or if was just all the creepy beeps and hums that rung from every angle, but that old _Sokka's-gotta-do-what-Sokka's-gotta-do _mindset the young warrior had earlier didn't seem very assuring for someone completely naked in military terms; he was _really_ beginning to miss his sword...

The teen's point of interest then swerved over to what looked like a large green, luminescent map intergrated into the wall to his immediate left. Sokka had come across one of these a couple times earlier; he was starting to get used to them. Based on what the warrior's seen so far, one of the glowing orange dots was where he was currently standing, and the bigger dot that remained on the top, well, his intincts told that was his destination; they've served as some reliable feedback so far...Sokka then heard a strange mechanical sifting sound directly behind him, causing the teen to freeze in pondering position, his eyes bugged out. His head slowly revolved around like an old door with rusty hinges.

And there it was: a tall, bulky, blue-ish black and white metal huminoid facing the opposite direction, scanning over the rail of the ledge it and Sokka were apparently on (a GUN Lazer Hunter to be specific...).

_How the HECK could I have not seen that before?_

The young warrior would've swallowed nervously, but he felt any audible noise he made at this point would mean instant death; his only option was to carefully sidle along the wall until he was out of hearing range of the machine - he internally prayed it wasn't that wide - until, as usual, the universe felt like bein' a jerk...

An agonizingly loud growl erupted from the teen's bowls, causing the machine's whole body to tense up. It was now or dead, Sokka had to move...!

The Lazer Hunter spun around, its blaster primed and ready to terminate...nothing...there was nothing behind the robot other than the map; naturaly, this perplexes the drone...

In actuality, the teen had made a b-line just under its blaster, taking advantage of its tall height and limited vision; the machine's upper half turned left and right, Sokka moved with it.

Apparently, during all the drama, the warrior had at some point forgotten to procure some dinner before being hurled into space, and now he was hungry. _Stupid digestive system and its needs. Where were you when Cumbustion Man showed up?_

Concluding there was no lifeform anywhere, the drone preceded to walk away, with Sokka having to crawl inbetween its legs and walk with it, synching his footsteps with the robot...until his stomach growled again...

The drone anticipated this, its upper half swerved a full 180' and fired...only succeeding in the demise of the nearest neon lamp post, bewildering the robot even further. The Hunter then concluded that its audio receivers must be malfuntioning, and preceded to upload a report to the central mainframe about the issue...

In reality, Sokka was currently clinging onto the outside of the drone's sheild with his back against it, his lower lip curled behind his anxious upper teeth. _So far, _not_ so good..._

Sokka's pupils then turned to view the front of him...only to come face-to-optic with a Beetle drone floating just off the ledge, observing the situation."...Oh COME ON!"

The fully-alerted Lazer Hunter then pulled back and swung its sheild-arm outward, propelling the teen into the Beetle, Sokka clinging onto it as well. The armed robot attempted to shoot the boy again, only hitting the Beetle and causing the smaller model to dart away out of control down across the lower room and into another hallway, inadverdently carrying the screaming Sokka with it.

The flying drone blew across the hall, bouncing off the wall and floor repeatedly; the two eventually flew into a second room. Upon entry, Sokka instantly let go and huddled his limbs into a proper rolling position, the Beetle crashing and exploding on the far wall, its sparks and flames giving little light to the dark room.

The young warrior groggily arose from the floor, stretching his mucles to ease the pain; after that landing, his everything was sore; his body fully erect, Sokka stopped to gaze into the strange new chamber he had just entered, with the light from the hallway and the flaming beetle serving as just enough light to see clearly. Taking recent happenings into mind, he proceeded to continued deeper.

Needless to say, the room was an absolute mess: the floor was covered under various broken doodads, shards of glass, and pieces of paper; there were two wide glass cylinders held in place by dual equaly large metal (also covered in techno mumbo jumbo, two on the ceiling and on the floor) , both were partialy shattered - hence the shards across the floor - one was clearly empty, and the second, as Sokka walked by it, he took note of the putrid lizard skeleton, throwing the teen a bit more out of his "cool".

A bit closer to the Beetle's remains, there were also a long bolted with desk other other broken thing-a-ma-gigs on it as well as a couple turned over metal cabinets; there were a two more papers lying on it. Sokka decided to check them. Picking the smaller one up, Sokka observed a black and white picture of a man who looked a lot like Eggman, only he was quite older, _The father maybe? _there was also a young smiling girl next to him; she appeared to be around Katara's age."hm..." escaped Sokka's throat.

The larger paper proved to be much more strenuous to decipher: while he could not even remotely understand the text, on the top right corner there was a picture of what resembled an oversized reptile, with all sorts of bolts plugged into it, with thick tubes running from its head to whatever that thing on its back was supposed to be. His gaze returned to the remains in the cylinder; he speculated it was a different reptile than in the picture, as the latter seemed far bigger."Huh..." he mumbled.

Satisfied with the information, Sokka decided to keep the smaller picture in his pocket as a souvinir (that's assuming the teen would make it out of hear alive), and turned to leave when, as expected, his clumsy toe simply couldn't leave without making contact with something heavy and - as if it could be made of anything else - metallic. The teen naturaly began to bounce up and down one foot and clutching the other while grunting out words and phrases he had only heard aboard naval vessels; if only he had abandoned his primitive wear for a pair of sturdy Fire Nation boots he wouldn't be faced with inconveniencies such as this. When the latest batch of pain receded, Sokka's instinctive curiosity returned and he preceded to pick up the origin of stubbed-big-toe (which weighed at least thirty pounds) to quench his thirst for clues once more.

The device was long and slender, rivaling Sokka himself in height, though he held it horizontally. It kind of resembled a dragon with its mouth-like design on one end and arranged spikes on the other; which, along with its black and red trim color scheme, made it appear more Fire Nation than anything else on this station. Sokka took note of a handle on the latter end of the device; carefully wrapping his right hand around the handle without dropping the thing, the warrior also felt what he guessed was a trigger mechanism at the vertex of the handle and the rest of the device. He did his best to position his hands around it where he supposed they ought to be, getting a feel of it."Hmm..." Sokka mumbled, facinated by the device. Now all that was left to do was determine the purpose of the invention, which he might have been able to do peacfully, if it wasn't for the Gold Beetle drone that literally popped out of thin air right in front of the teen, causing him to cringe in fear, thus squeezing the trigger by accident...

***BAYAM!***

Before Sokka knew what happened, he was sitting in a chair, holding the device tightly to his person, and the machine had completely vanished, though the teen did notice a molten hole through the wall he was facing, as well as the wall behind that, and the wall behind that, and so on...

Sokka's attention referred to the former end of the device, the nosil now leaking with smoke - it did not take even his unmatched detective skills to understand what had just took place...

Recovering from his stupor, the Water Tribe native arose from the chair and turned back to the remain of the previous floating machine. Curious to see if it was still loaded, Sokka pointed the weapon at it, and willfully pulled the trigger, igniting a powerful ray of light energy to shoot out the mouth, the kick propelling Sokka backwards, and decemating what was left of the Beetle.

Sokka could only gaze upon the supremely deadly weapon in his arms as he lie there on his back, knocked away by the blast. And inspite of the current conditions, his smile returned, which now morphed into a smirk as the former waterbender wondered what other "devices' this place had to offer..."_Hmmmm..._"

**Meanwhile, in Dr. Gerald Robotniks personal quarters...**

The evil scientist sat there, tucked beneath the covers of his grandfather's queen-sized bed, basking on the verge of total victory. Truly, Dr. Eggman should've been fast and sound asleep by this hour, but his oh-so overdeveloped brain was constantly re-stimulated by the sheer volume of his unmitigated triumph.

The doctor almost couldn't comprehend just how fortunate events were transpiring in his favor; why, if he were to by some means obtain the power to travel through time and update his past self of his achievement, not even he would accept it as a credible outcome.

By noon of tomarrow, the seventh Chaos Emerald would be his, and so would this new world; and he was making full preperations, marking off particular locations across the globe on a miniaturized version of the digital atlas he rendered earlier."...and I'll put Eggmanland _here_, and I'll put Robotniklaaaand _here_ and...Where should Robotropolis go? The South Pole, maybe?" he mused, when suddenly, a Gold Beetle appeared before the foot of the bed.

_"__Doctor, two intruders have been detected on different levels of Space Colony ARK__" _it announced.

The doctor chuckled to himself, having been reminded that he had single handedly reprogramed the ARK's security system to believe he was actually his own grandfather, adding but another victory on his growing list of achievements."It's probably two of the girls attempting to escape again, Beetle, most likely the earth and firebenders, they don't seem to adapt as well as the Water Tribe girl..." he dissmissed, but the drone went on...

_"__Pharamone levels indicate the intruders are young males__"_

" 'Males'?" Eggman repeated, his attention finally deterred from the touch-screen pad,"How is that even..." he froze, quite familliar with the scenario,"... no..."

* * *

It took the overweight scientist a record-breaking five minutes to reach the central computer room, skidding to a halt as he readjusted he jumpsuit and spectacles, leaping onto the chair, and rebooting the surveilence feed, only to find a pair of somethings that filled his bowels with nausiating nestalgia...

"NO WAY! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" he recited, clawing at his bald head. It was none other than that boy, the Avatar, running around the station and reducing his precious robots to scrap, while one his dimwitted companions rumaged through the strorage facility for anything that looked intimidating and...was that the Shadow Rifle?

Oh, no, this couldn't be happening; he had everything planned out! It's not like he was going to kill anyone! Was this truly the his fate? Had the doctor escaped the clutches of one bold protaganist only to fall prey to another, more powerfull nemesis?

WAIT! What was that glow beneath the boy's robe? the doctor freeze-framed, and zoomed in. Could it be?

It was! It all made sense now! Eggman knew they had the emerald the whole time! Heh, looks like that reverse phychology he pulled earlier worked like a charm. All he had to do now was find a way to pry that rock from the Avatar's possession without getting burned, crushed, drowned, of blown away by a vengefull pre-teen. There was still time, right? It was not as if the child actually knew where he was going. Of course, he was getting rather close to Crazy Gadget; he wasn't _that_ far away at all.

No, no this was still good; the emeralds were all in one place, he had a combined force of his badniks and security drones patroling the ARK; if anything, they'd bid time until the doctor thought of way to obtain the last emerald and conquer this planet for good. Besides, this boy doesn't have the experience against his technology as the _hedgehog_ would - he was on Eggman's turf now, right in the palm of his hand, just like the world.

This. Was not. Over.

_**Eternal Engine**_

_Dust, smoke, fire, sparks, the smell of burnt rubber. . ._

Aang breathed, summoning as much internal energy as he could muster, and sent a devastating whirlwind through the steel tunnel that sent the turtle-like machine, scrapped remains of former foes, and shards of the glass interior flying downing the tunnel like vegetables being hacked in a blender. For a moment the air was clear. It was clear enough for Aang to, for a fraction of a second, gain his bearings. It also gave him a moment to access the situation. Some how, some way, he had been teleported on this unatural vessel in the depths of space. He was being continuously assaulted by wave after wave of metal monster. . .and before the Avatar could even finish pondering his seemingly hopeless situation, a metal bulwark slid open and another wave of blue and orange machines herded towards him.

The Avatar charged, cutting them down with a dazzling flurry of air and fire; whatever machine wasn't blasted away with a gail of wind was immediately blown to bits by a rapid strike of flame.

Aang turned and ran. . .he passed corridor after corridor, intersection after insection, propelling his body with what little air was in this dead place, allowing him to quicken his pace. Finally, he passed through two large sliding doors and reached a vast chasm within the ship.

The airbender was breathless, not out of exhaustion, but plain shock. The size of this vessel was impossible to imagine. He could see the earth - home - from the metal ledge he sttood upon. Up and around, he could see the stars and across the chasm, he saw another gate in the distance; there was no good way across, except for. . .these moving platform things. It disturbed him, but he'd dun harder things in his life than jump.

He leap over the edge and roughly landed on a platform and began leaping from one to another. A squadron of white, slender flying machines - oddly fitting the warden's description at the Boiling Rock - rushed towards the Avatar and opened fire; no matter. Taking advantage of their poor aim, he blasted them out of the air with streams of fire. It was too easy. Then a whistling noise caught his attention. . .he jerked his head to the right and several rocket-propelled missiles flying towards him. He looked forward: the door was rather far from his platform but he could make it with enough energy. He swallowed his apprehension and launched himself forth. A split second later, the missiles hit the platform and detonated, blasting it to fiery pieces. The force of the explosion sent Aang flying faster through the dead air. He went sent flying through the other door too fast to catch himself and hit the iron ground hard. He struggled to his feet, only to meet eyes with another dozen humanoid mechinazations, this time they had sheilds.

"Ok," he said out loud, "time for act 2. . ." he lunged.

* * *

"Katara, stop hoggin' the sheets..." Toph whined, prodding at the waterbender with her feet.

"I'm not hogging, I'm just cold; it's not my fault this bed's so small," she explained, attempting to attain a comfortable position; only incurring the earthbender's wrath even further.

"_I said_ cut it out!" Toph cried, kicking the older girl off the mattress comepletely.

Katara strenuously rose to her knees."Look, I can't help it if you're so accustomed to having your own space to sleep; besides, I would've had a bed for myself if _someone _hadn't of set it on fire..." she threw a glare at the obvious offender.

Azula's eyes refused to open, as she were still asleep."Maybe this 'someone' you are referring to wouldn't have set your bed on fire if _another someone_ hadn't've woken that someone up..."

"Maybe this other someone wouldn't of had to worry about waking the first someone up if the latter weren't compelled to destroy any that's not red..." Katara countered, standing up.

"Perhaps this alleged compulsion could've been averted per chance the second someone did not interfere with the previous someone's Agni Kai..." the firebender followed up, opening her eyes.

"Though, that someone would never, or rather, _should_ never of had to interfere given the aformentioned someone refrained from _cheating_..." the waterbender reminded, taking a step forward.

"As a matter of fact, such a duel probably could've been avoided altogether pending that the former someone and the current someone's opponent let their personal animosities dissolve long enough for that someone to be _coronated_..." the princess added, supporting herself up.

"Which, would not have been an issue to begin with if the someone you're talking about weren't the heartless, caniving, egotistical, power-hungry, and partialy deranged witch we all know her to be..." she continued boldly, stomping closer to the other girl with every adjective.

"...w-Wait; who're you talking about?" Toph inquired.

_"BUTT OUT!"_ were their responses.

"Ahh, conflict, music to my ears..." the blind girl muttered softly as she drifted back to sleep , her ears attuned to such heated desputes.

"You make me want to throw up, you know that?" Katara restarted, her tone bearing whole new sense of hatred,"You had everything a teenage girl could ever dream of, and more. You father adored you, your country praised you; you were the Fire Nation ideal, and you didn't have to do a thing to earn it. But that just wasn't enough for you, was it? You _had _to take shot at the Avatar, you _had_ to sap every single drop hope and inject continent's worth of fear and misery into everysingle heart, all for a throne that _you_ weren't even meant to inherit!"

The princess reverted to her previous sleeping position, doing the best she could to ignore the waterbender.

"You could've shown some compassion and called off the hunt when you found out Aang was just a kid; oh, but that didn't stop the 'clever and beautiful princess', did it? And hey! while you were at it, you conquered Ba Sing flipping _Se!_ - something not even a mile long _drill_ could do! - and all it took was getting inside your brother's head and the willfull and quite obviously premeditated _MURDER_ of an inocent twelve year old boy! Sure, any _decent_ human being might have had a slight displacment of morals after realizing they've just contributed to genocide, and maybe of even had the heart to tell said child where the Fire Lord is roughly forty-eight hours after witnessing the man's plans to-...waitamintute...why would what I'm about to say not sound right?" she snapped her fingers,"Oh _yeah_, that's right! Because what I was about to say was YOUR PLAN! You were the FIRST PERSON to opt for burning the Earth Kingdom to the ground! I guess that's why it only came natural or you to stall Aang during what seemed like to everyone at the time the world's last chance for peace. Yep, just doin' what you do best - manipulating and intimidating your way to another _'glorious victory'_ I mean, imprisoning and separating friends and families for potentialy the rest of their lives does seem a bit rude, but surely that could never stand as any kind of confliction for a girl that _gloated_ at her own mother's dissappearance, who was _entertained_ seeing her brother's face scarred for life, and then gloating some _more _when charged with the task of arresting him in the name of dignity; who incarcirated her best friends the moment they speak their mind! And there was also that thing about trying to outright _kill _Zuko a little while afterwards; what was it you said? 'Today's the day I become an _only child _'? Did I forget to mention the Earth King is still missing? But I guess you knew that already; I mean, what _doesn't _the intuitive Azula know?" Katara shook her head."You know, the punch-line with you is that, I could let all this stuff go; you're not the first cold-blooded monster I've had the pleasure of meeting...but the thing that separates you from any possibility of redemtion, is that even with full comprehention of the things you've done, what you've promoted, the lives ruined in your wake, the destruction and blood-shed prolongd sovriegnly by you own decisions; after all of these things," she paused,"...you look back at it all, and you don't even care. You just. Don't. CARE-!"

"OF _COURSE_ I DON'T CARE!" the firebender shrieked out of nowhere,"For Agni's sake, it's WAR! There's no good guy or bad guy in _war!_ There is only fight, win, lose, conquer! Pillage! Victory! Failure! Nobody cares in war! You just float around in this little fantasy zone full of courages heros and _vile_ villians where hurting people is _mean_ and 'stupid' is just another name for _'different'_. GET REAL!" she cried exasperatedly, returning to a lying postion with her arms crossed, facing the ceiling."I'd expect no less. Before you even met my brother, your whole life revovled around _love _and_ family_ and the_ community_, comepletely isolated from the _real world_..." she turned to Katara,"I bet you think that your pitifull standards of relationships can be applied to the Fire Nation? That, if anyone ever found what really happened to Lady Ursa, they'd look upon my family with comtempt? Puh-lease! She would've been _worshipped _for her ingenuity! The fact that she got away with it all alone should have made her the greatest herone in my nation's history! And do know why? Because morality in the Fire Nation is over-rated as of one hundred years ago! All that matters is score, reputation; who to fear, and what to overcome regardless of how despicable the method seems!" she smirked, her gaze returning to the ceiling,"Oh, believe me: if there were a Fire Nation ideal, it would undoubtably be yours truly! Never in my life have I been more certain that there was not one single individual on earth that has shown me any sort of genuine affection. 'Wait, what about your father' you ask? Do you think if I weren't as good a bender as I am, he would even waste his time with me? I wasn't his favorate child, I was his favorate _general_! It actually came off as a surprise to me whenever we spoke any out of either the _war room _or the _throne room_; even when he asked me personaly to apprehend Zuko, he treated the meeting strictly as if I wasn't even related to him!"

She spread her arms again,"And as for Zuzu, as soon as I was born, he centered his life around trying to one-up me in everything; he never succeeded though, but it was still awfully flattering. But what about Uncle Iroh? Why, everybody just _adores_ Uncle Iroh! Funny how that decadent, tea-loving fathead never _once _visited me in my cell! And I don't even wanna _start_ with Lu Ten, that bigheaded showboder! He got whatever came to him!" she giggled rather awkwardly."And would you believe, for a while, I honestly thought it was _illegal_ for me to talk to Grandfather Azulon? No fooling! If you thought there was a double standard in _my_ family, you should've heard the things he'd say to Father! Hah hah, talked to'em like he was trash..." she trailed off, her tone more quiet and far less crass,"...And I guess that leaves us with my So-called 'friends'," she continued with drastic change in her usual voice pattern,"Of cousre, they have every right to despise me. Not even _I _know why I recruted them, it's not like Ty Lee's the only chi blocker in existence; probably for to gnaw at Zuko's moral in some sadistic fashion...and then **Mai**..." she hissed, getting worked up again,"How could she turn on me like that! She had everything! But no, she couldn't let go of _Zuko_; even after he turned his back on the entire nation, She just would not shut up about ZUKO!" she screamed, swinging her hands in a way that made small but dangerous arcs of blue flame luminate the room and cause Katara to stumble backwards.

When the Water Tribe girl arose, she nearly gawked at the sight of the former princess curled underneath the blanket, her body trembling.

"...my...my mother..." she quaked,"...sh...she never even said 'good-bye' to me...how is _that_ suppose to make me feel? She said 'good-bye' to my _brother_ but _not me!_ Here I am, an intelligent, capable little girl, and I'm not even worth a 'goodbye'? Well why! I want to know! What was it about that sappy, birdbrained _weakling_ that him elligable for some _stinkin' notifacation!_" she caved, finally bursting into tears.

If Katara thought she couldn't believe her eyes before...

Azula was on her back once more,"So there's the big secret: _no one_ loved me, no one even _liked_ me; from the day I was born and _on!_ " she sobbed,"...But you know what?" she inquired,"None of that matters anymore. We lost; you won. I was outsmarted, and bested at the pinnacle of my power, by_ you_ no less. Our lives have fundamentally switched: now you're the beloved princess, and I'm the ragged peasant; only difference is that I am officialy the most_ hated_ female on Earth..." she lamented, her voice completely broken. She tried to stop crying anymore, but it was simplytoo late.

Katara's attitude was definately softened; what she saw a minute ago as an embodiment of pure evil was now exactly what it looked like: a poor girl with no family. If her own rant hadnt' of been the spark that lit her reaction, she would've regretted saying it."...I think I know what was driving Aang to win the War..." she spoke up,"It wasn't just for his friends, all the helpless refugees, or even the Air Nomads...it was also people like you..." she looked at the floor,"The warriors, who were brought up from birth to only understand the principals of fighting and battling and mortal combat...," her memory flashed to Admiral Zhao, General Fong, Hama, the assassin know as "Combustion Man", and eventually Phoenix King Ozai,"...the kind of people that only desired victory and didn't care how it was achieved, or the damage that followed; there were people like that on either side of the War, and still are." Katara paced back to her enemy."It had to end, the world needed to change, the balance had to be restored so that, everone could learn the true meaning of harmony...and, maybe oneday...pretty much anybody can be pretty much anybody's friend..." she recited slowly, now standing before the sorrowful girl.

At this last statement, the firebender lamely propped herself against her left arm, though not fully turned to the standing girl."...Wait...are you actually telling me that...after all the madness I put you through..." she sniffled, facing her directly,"...you want to be my friend?"

"Well, I can tell you this much: I once stared my mother's killer square in the eye, and then forgave him. If I could forgive that..." the smiling waterbender replied, taking Azula's right hand,"...I can forgive anybody."

Azula's expression presented that of utter shock and almost reverance; she was so overcome by the outpouring of raw emotion that the very next thing she did was lunge off the bed and wrap her arms around the stunned Katara, holding her as if she never wanted to let go and crying a storm.

All the waterbender could do next was counter-hug the firebender and pat her on the back."_It's alright now; you don't have to fight for anything anymore..."_ she comforted.

In the middle of such a touching moment, a certain blind girl grumbled back to conscousness."...erm, hey, Why'd you guys stop fighting?How am I 'spose to sleep with all this closer..." Toph froze the moment she leaned her right hand against the wall."...s...Sokka?"

"What?" Katara inquired.

The answer Katara got was Toph leaping out of the bed, darting to the other end of the room, and knocking hard on the wall left of the door with her fist."SOKKA! SOKKA! WE'RE IN HERE! SOKKA!" she cried.

"Toph, what're you talking about? Sokka can't possibly be here..." the waterbender reminded, still hugging Azula.

The firebender sighed, still hugging Katara."I knew it, the insanity's setting in; naturaly I was the first, and you'll be the last, you of course having the strongest will..."

"SOKKA! SOKKA! SOK-" the blind girl was cut off by a mysterious force blasting the door past her and into her bed, destroying it."...ka?

The girls turned to face an ominous shadow peering into the room, which grew in length as the sound of heavy boots could be heard entering through the door way.

The next thing the three saw was an alien figure, clad in a bulky orange and white jumpsuit and all kinds of bizzarre equipment strapped around its torso. It weilded in its hands a long, black device, which was smoking on one end. On a side note, it also emitted an erie synthetic breathing pattern that sounded like something out of an old but popular science fiction movie.

They silently scanned eachother...

The figure then put down its weapon and remove its helmet, revealing the usual indifferent expression of Sokka."Did I miss something?"

_"SOKKA!"_ the earth and waterbenders cried, pouncing onto the teen and hugging him with all their might.

"whoah-Hey, one at a time!" he half-complained.

Azula gazed upon the laughing trio, and for the first time in her life she felt an even greater sensation even more so than love. Is this what hope feels like?

"I can't believe it! How did you even get up here? Is Aang here too?" the elated Katara asked.

"He is; but look, there's no time! We gotta get out of here before Eggman wises up!" the warrior reminded, pushing her aside and picking up his weapon."Now come on; we need to find Aang and save the universe!" he announced.

Toph paused again, raising a finger."Uh, yeah, that sound like good plan, but...how do we do that?"

Sokka raised is own finger to elaborate...but found that he could not, and brought said finger to his chin in contemplation.

Right now, the four were at a loss for words...

* * *

**Yeah, it's gettin' late, I honestly don't feel like making a joke right now...**

**Deadpool: M0b1uz! What does the scouter say about the documents word count-**

**WHAT DID I SAY?**

**Deadpool:...the answer was seven thousand...**

**-_-'**

**Please Review!**


	15. Cannon's Core, Part 3

**Before you read this, I think it's only fair to let everybody know the scenes with Aang alone in the ARK in the previous chapter were both conjured by my brother, so give him most of the credit, I just edited them.**

**I have recently discovered something about myself...**

**Deadpool: You're actually black?**

**...**

**Though I try to stay as close to the characters' speech and mannerisms as I can, I'm not too good with action, fighting, stunts, settings,etc.; at least not to the degree of detail that Avatar normally takes it. No matter what I do, I just can't seem to get specific about that kinda' stuff. That's why I usually just hand it over to my brother, and it's partialy the reason why I take so long with this story.**

**Deadpool: So, what you're sayings is: the prologue was totaly written by your unnamed bro'?**

**Mm? Oh, no, that was all me; yep, comepletely outta my head and nowhere else...**

**Deadpool:...**

**...**

**Deadpool:...**

**...**

**Deadpool:**_** Comepletely **_**from you?**

**...Oh fine! Remember that squable between Sonic and Shadow? Yeah, I modeled that joke after an scene from Xiolin Showdown!**

**Deadpool:...**

**...Xiolin Showdown...**

**Deadpool:...**

**...Oh come on! Don't look at me and say you haven't memorized any Shen Gong Wu...**

**Deadpool: Kid, I was created in 1991; the only things I'm a fan of is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, me, and S.W.A.T. Kats, but mostly me.**

**Whatever, next thing you're gonna tell me is you've never heard of "Rock-a-Doodle-Doo"?**

**Deadpool:... by the Matrix, you're a nerd...**

**And you just said "by the Matrix", so who's the bigger nerd?**

**On with the Season 1 Finale!**

* * *

**Book Four**

**Metal**

**Chapter Eight**

**Deep Inside Of...**

* * *

"...And that's basicly how we got up here." finished the young warrior to the the girls.

"So lemme' get this straight," Toph began,"Robotnik kidnapped us just so he could make an exange for one magic rock? That's stupid! He's got the other six; he couldn't get it himself?"

"Maybe there's something special about that one?" Katara considered."Or about having all seven?"

Sokka shrugged his geared-up shoulders."I dunno, maybe he's just really paranoid for some reason. But whatever, now that I've found you guys, we need to find a way out of here before the guy wises up!" he annouced, gesturing out the entryway.

"...Which takes us back to where we started: How?" the blind girl repeated.

Instead of holding his chin, Sokka scratched the back of his head audibly."...erm, Look, I don't know, okay? I just assumed that after Aang beated Eggman..."

"Dr. Robotnik," Katara corrected.

"..._Whatever_-that we'd just magicly pop back to the Fire Nation the same way we left; I mean, that's how this guy's been doing it, right?"

"Yeah, but that's assuming Twinkle Toes can beat'em at all," Toph argued," I don't know about you, but what I saw back in that control room was worth _ten_ Sozin's Comets. How're we supposed to top that?"

Sokka hunched over."ugh, Listen, I already told you, Aang has the last one! And what makes me stronger without touching it should make the Avatar _invincible_. And even if we can't use it to get back, they're still the...ya' know, the ships...!" he staggered.

"Ships?" the blind girl wondered.

"Oh, hey yeah!" Katara remembered,"While we were in the control room, Robotnik showed us these huge airships that flew around the station; I guess Sokka saw them too..."

Toph cocked her head skepticly."I'm sorry, '_air_ships'? How could there be airships where there's no air? And even if there are, how're _we_ supposed to get to the ships if we can't breath?"

A shy _ahem_ permiated the trio's attention. They turned to see Azula with her left hand raised, though her meek expression betrayed her character. "Um, that might not be the case..." the firebender explained,"The ships we saw weren't the same as a conventional dirrigible. They looked like they were being propelled by some kind of internal cumbustion engine. The Fire Nation were acually working on prototypes of that nature, though they never made into practical usage. The point is, any form of combustion should be chemicaly impossible without oxygen..."

Silence...

"...That's _science _for 'air' ," she translated.

"...Which means whatever air supply the station has, it's also surrounding it from the outside! Good thinking, Az-uh...zula..." the warrior sputtered.

"erm-No problem, heh..." the former princess replied sheepishly, reverting her eyes to a wall and plaiyng with her long hair.

Sokka observed the remnants of tears across the firebender's cheeks; he honestly wondered what happened in this room, but he'd ask about that later."...This is good; if we have to run, we have a plan B. All we have to is find a safe way to get to those ships; so when Aang takes down Eggman..."

"Robotnik," Toph corrected also.

"Whatever!-we'll be able to get back on our own." he elaborated, walking out into the hallway.

"You're leaving out the part where we have to navigate through a mega-huge space station, fight through swarms of machine monsters, and operate an impossibly advanced spaceship, on the _off-chance_ Aang can beat Robotnik," the earthbender reminded as the girls walked out with him.

"Hey, I've flown an airship once, and made designes for sub-mersible ships; I think I know my way around a little engineering. Besides, I've been tearin' through this place all night; these guys're easy," Sokka smirked, raising his new weapon.

Just then, a pair of Artificial Chaos dropped down on either end of the teens.

"...Except for these guys...these guys are horrificly deadly..." Sokka recalled, trying to keep his "cool".

The creatures produced their tentacles to strike; but before they could, a not-so mysterious force rented their liquid bodies right out from their robotic heads, causing them both to clang to the floor simultaniously.

"Ah, finally, some water!" Katara said, allowing the liquid to envelope her arms.

"...Anybody else need to armor up?" Sokka inquired.

Azula sniffled a bit."I...no, I think I'm ready..." she replied, wiping off her sorrow.

"Eh, I'll just pick up the metal as we go," Toph resoluted.

The former waterbender cocked his gun."Then let's go."

_**Final Rush**_

An explosion erupted through the violate-blue wall. The Avatar lept through the smoke a second later, only to discover that not only was he outside again, but now he was helplessly plunging down towards the earth with nothing to break his fall, causing the boy to scream and flail his limbs crazily.

Something, however, caught his eye: while there were several floating platforms out of reach, he could see nearly within his path a yellow rail that curved down at a steep angle. The airbender used the somehow artificial air to adjust his trajectory so that he could land on it; but due to a slight miscalculation on his part, his feet were the first make violent contact with the railing, resulting in him sliding down against it at extreme velocity.

Aang wobbled around his arms and body, just trying to maintain balance as wind blew against his sacred Avatar garb. He sped through three floating hoops that made a rather indescribible sound as he continued his periling descent.

Four red, bird-looking machines flanked the Avatar from above, releasing rockets that flew parrallel with them. Aang shot two fireballs each for the rockets on one side, and for one of the machines; it was knocked into the one behind it, taking them both out. He shot two more at once on the other side, and sent a wave of air that destroyed the remaining machines.

As Aang continued to grind, the soles of his delicate shoes were slowly being burned away by the great amount of traction; upon realizing this, he promptly jumped up over the end of the rail just in time, clearing a long, flat platform with another rail connected to it, and created an air scooter before landing on the next rail and blowing down at an even faster rate.

The rail eventualy met up in between two more rails, all three parallel to eachother. Three green machines flew in from behind and immediately zipped twenty feet in front of the Avatar. They turned around to face the boy, somehow able to maintain their vectors backwards. Within a span of two seconds, Aang saw the one in the middle's dual cannon begin to glow; the airbender quickly navigated to the rail on his right before the machine released two wide beams of light. The machine on the right simply mimicked the first one, charging its light cannon and forcing Aang to return to the middle rail before it fired. The middle repeated its attack, Aang retrating to the left rail before it fired again. Then, catching the young Avatar slightly off guard, the left and middle machines charged their cannon at the same time, causing Aang to revert to the right rail before they fired. Afterwards, the right and left ones charged, making Aang return to the middle rail before they fired once more.

Deciding enough was enough, the Avatar accelerated his speed two fold to retaliate. As all three began to charge their cannon, Aang pounced onto the middle one's right canon, causing the machine to spin rapidly as its cannon automaticly fired, taking out its metallic brothers. The unit wobbled and sputtered away from the rail, nearing the station's exterior. Aang monkeyed on top the machine, raises his hands, and slammed them against it, blasting it downward with an air colomn, proppeling himself up several feet. His left foot landed on a much smaller floating machine as he punched a fireball at another one between him and the wall; Aang kicked off the machine and blew it away as well with an air current in mid-flip before dashing against the shiny metal wall, his left hand and right foot making beif contact before he air-boost-sprinted far up the exterior, intent on getting back inside somehow.

However, this action seemed to have been anticipated by Eggman, as there were dozens of black, floating, red-glowing mines lined unevenly up in three rows, forcing the airbender to perilously swerve left and right, barely missing mine after mine; one mine he couldn't avoid, he blasted it with air to produce a sheild-effect as it exploded.

* * *

The four were still within the halls, battling the GUN security drones as they made their way to the outside.

Sokka and Azula fired rapidly at the floating Lazer Beetles, the former at some point figuring out how to gauge the weapon's calibur through the amount of pressure placed upon the trigger.

Katara used her water tentacles to absorb the beams fired by the large Hunters, whipping one's sheild clean out of its pincer and pulling its leg out from under it, making it fall over and, in the same movement, spun and sent the water around its sheild and against the right of another robot's head, knocking it on its left.

Toph pressed her small hand against the metal wall, pulling out a jagged metal circle like a suction cup; she threw it like a shuriken, diagonaly slicing through a drones head, taking it down.

The firebender blasted at a drone that blocked the blue fireball with its sheild; this reaction was intended, as she ran quickly and slid under through the sheild between the drone's feet. She got up and nailed the unit in the back. The former princess could only turn around soon enough as to see another drone priming its lazer before a liquid tentacle consumed the weapon, causing the machine to blow half its own arm off, toppling over.

"They're more coming from behind!" Toph announced.

The other three turned around to see a second wave of Lazer Hunters, accompanied by a squadron of brawny, hovering Lazer Hawks.

Toph grabbed the end of a metal panel on the floor and pried it apart, pulling it upwards to serve as some cover as the drones opended fire, which she, the fire, and nonbender promptly huddled behind while the waterbender covered the opposite by surrounding herself with thick, octopus-like liquid tentacles that whipped to and fro to block the lazerfire.

Getting bold, Azula decided to exit the cover, and run and jump through the water tentacles as she swirled around her fingers in a familiar manner, charging some lightening. As the firebender did this, Sokka got the guts to arise from Toph's cover as well and aim his weapon toward the opposing fire and pull the trigger hard. Both attacks tore through the remaining drones on either end of the hallway, followed by silence.

"So this is what being awsome is like..." Sokka lamented, caressing his weapon.

"Eh, you start to take it for granted after a while..." Toph added.

* * *

"This. Can't. Be. HAPPENING!" the twitching scientist whaled, pulling on his glorious moustache as he beheld the feed.

Oh, he could see it now: another series of endless failures, the constantly growing number of young thrill-seeking enemies, unbarable belittlement and condescention of the masses, a b-grade comedic catoon starring Jaleel White...

The more he acknowlaged the inevitable, the more he just wanted to _give_ up the ARK and _get _it over with! The foundation of his ultimate scheme was being negated before his very eyes! Here he was, the greatest mind in the history of two worlds, semi-limitless power betwixt his palms, brought down by overly stimulated hormones and magic. It was a mockery of his Grandfather's legacy!

No, he could not let this happen - he WOULDN'T. It was his destiny to...to...

...wait...That was it...he had limtless power...so _why_ wasn't he using it? He could end it all, he could own this world and all that therin, he could have that arrow-brained brat kneeling at his feet by sunrise; all the doctor needed was a little...petty threat.

At this epiphany, Eggman began happily typing away at the keyboard, preparing the countdown, setting his newly formed plan C into motion. This little space skirmish wasn't over yet - halfway at best - and why not? If the doctor was in process of receiving nostalgia, he might as well embrace it all the way.

* * *

An unlucky Egg Pawn was sent flying off a platform, courtesy of the young Avatar.

Aang's arms slacked, clearly winded from his high-speed daboggle.

_"Attention! Hello? Testing 1-2-3...!" _a familiar voice rang throughout the vacinity, tensing the boy as he turned in multiple directions.

* * *

"Where is he?" Katara inquiried.

"I don't feel him anywhere..." Toph wondered.

_"I have seriously underestimated you kids, haven't I?" _Eggman's voice fake-marveled,_ "I thought I had the edge with technology, but once again, I've been proven dead wrong! Truly, you benders are a very facinating sect of mankind, Ho-Ho! Such a shame a foot has to put down and end it all; but I simply don't have the time for this anymore, so listen closely..."_

* * *

_"Have any of you by chance caught a glimse of that enormous, pointy extension of the station?"_

Aang recalled his vision. He looked around, and inevitably spotted the massive point that could've been seen from Earth via telescope.

_"I bet you've all been wondering just what the heck that thing is?" _he mused, with a slight hint of agitation,_"It's called the Eclispe Cannon - that's right! It's one huge cannon, the biggest cannon ever contructed, capable of wiping out entire land masses in a single blast! And guess which land mass where floating above at this very moment?"_

* * *

"He's not talkin' about..." Toph stumbled.

"I think he is..." Sokka confirmed.

* * *

"So now I think we understand eachother..." Eggman continued, leaning contentfully back in his chair, watching the ever decreasing numbers on the monitor,"You have less than ten minutes to surrender to me my emerald and end this childish resistance before I provide a solution to your Fire Nation problem myself...

* * *

_"...permanently."_

Aang's heart skipped another beat.

* * *

"I await your response..._Avatar_..." the doctor concluded, turning off the intercom and calmly strolling out of the room.

* * *

"This is bad..." Katara grimaced.

"Ya think? He's gettin' ready to blow up the flippin' Fire Nation!" Toph retorted."We gotta find Aang, _now_."

"Forget the Avatar! We'll take down Robotnik, and claim this station for ourslves!" Azula announced fiercely, a meniacal grin spread across her face.

An awkward stare from the other three...

"...er-Sorry about that; I was in a mode..." she apologized, still adapting to her return to the front line.

"Well, crazy-aside, that doesn't sound so bad..." Katara considered,"I think we should head back for that control room and stop him. Toph, do you remember the way?"

"Maybe, I haven't had a chance to really memorize this place..." the earthbender replied.

Sokka sighed."No, we shouldn't; we still need to find an escape," he reminded.

"What? Didn't you hear what he said?" the waterbender inquired.

"I _heard_ him calling out the Avatar, who is probably haulling wind straight for him. Eggman is Aang's fight; we'd only get in the way."

"The only thing we'd be 'getting in the way' of is the Fire Nation getting blown up!" Toph retorted.

"Granted, but he might just be bluffing; it could all be a trap set for us," the warrior speculated.

"Sokka, why are you so afraid of him? He's just one person; I'm not even sure he's a bender," the water bender responded.

He laid his gloved hands on her shoulders."Then we have nothing to worry about when Aang faces him. We _need_ to get outside," Sokka firmly re-resoluted.

Katara took note of his alien clothing...

"...Okay, let's get outside," she agreed halfheartedly.

Sokka turned to the other girls.

"Makes sense..." the firebender mumbled.

"I just wanna get outta here..." Toph said.

* * *

The Avatar plopped to his small knees, unable to comprehend the threat just given."How could I let this happen?"

His mind flashed back to all the faces in the Fire Nation he'd ever seen. He remembered that nice girl from the school, the bully who tried to assault him, the "Flame-yo's", who are actualy quite popular these days, the indigenous fishing village of Jang Hui, all the commoners he scammed in Fire Fountian City, even the woman who portrayed him in the play.

Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, their families, General Iroh, Ozai and all the bad people; he didn't care, good or bad, they were all about to...

How could someone even want to do something so...so...

It wasn't fair. Everything he ever worked for was on the verge of obliteration and... and he himself, the Avatar, could nothing about it!

Aang had never felt so helpless in his entire life. The worst part of it was that even if he wanted to give Eggman the seventh emerald, he could even find his way back into the station!

Aang stopped on that thought for a moment, and produced the jewel from his robes, cupping it in his hands and scanning it. " 'One of seven'..." he remembered."...If you really are one of seven...then that means you must have a _connection_ to the others!" he considered, actually talking to the stone. This was not strange - there was so much energy eminating from the emerald, it felt alive.

"Maybe you can show me where your siblings are?" he wondered. After all, if Eggman cared about them so much, he must be watching over them wherever they are.

Aang thought it was worth a shot - he honestly had no more options. The young Avatar folded his legs inward, and clenched the Chaos Emerald tightly, closing his eyes, and attempting to merge his spirit with the jewel, in effort to contact the other six...

His eyes soon shot open, his brow raised in confusion."Wait, what?" Instead of finding the emeralds, however, the airbender received a strange couple of images in his mind which were rather difficult to interpret. The Avatar then curiously closed his eyes and resumed meditation...

Countless pictures and sounds and voices blew through his head, too fast and too strange to understand: not only did he see visions of Eggman, he also saw a grinning blue hedgehog with red shose running through the hallway at an incredible speed, a fox inside a large violate vehicle with legs shooting at the machines, a red echinda saving a female bat from a fall, a pink girl hedgehog in a dress pleading with a black hedgehog who was trying to ignore her, the supposed "Eclipse Cannon" firing and destroying part of the moon, the fox battling Eggman, the blue hedgehog and the black headgehog running alongside eachother outside the space station, an emormeous orange reptile roaring into the heavens, the blue hedgehog trapped within a glass cylinder, Eggman ponting somekind of weapon at the pink hedgehog, an image of an old man tied down in a chair that resembled Eggman, a tear dripping from the black hedgehog's eye, the echidna talking to a big green jewel that started glowing, a pair of golden hedgehogs gathering a growing ball of energy in front of them...

_"Chaos..._CONTROL!"

Aang snapped back into the real world, staggering back an dropping the emerald. He breathed loudly gazing in awe upon the enchanted stone; he gradually calmed down...

" 'Chaos Control'?" he repeated quietly, the only clear words heard in his mind"...It looks like you've got a memory of your own..." Aang realized; apparently, there was more to this vessel than Eggman was letting on. A part of him wanted to learn more, but he had something more pressing at the moment."...but It's not helping me; I need to know where the other Chaos Emeralds are," he announced to the rock, picking it up and continuing his meditation, this time he found what he wanted...

He invisioned zipping throught the halls at great pace, turning and swerving all across the station, until slowing down in a dark room with a giant pillar at the very center of the station. As he got closer, the pillar opened up, revealing six lights of varying colors.

_I found them..._

Immediately, his eyes and tatoos glowed, air began swirling around him, making him levtiate higher and higher until he was covered in huge, spinning sphere of wind. The fully realized Avatar blasted forth back into the massive satalite.

_**Cosmic Wall**_

A pair of wide doors split apart as the four dashed through the opening, only to skid to a halt before almost slipping over the edge, as there was no more floor to traverse. They beheld another vast chasm of the space station, this time filled with dozens of flat, colored, floating platforms, floating boulders, and other floating things, including armed floating security drones; and to top it off, they had a perfect view of the earth.

"_Al_righty, Sokka," Toph began,"We're outside..._now_ what!?"

The kids turned around to (minus Toph) see another score of drones headed their way, and preparing to open fire.

"JUMP!" was Sokka's answer, the four holding hands and attempting to leap to the nearest platform, inadverdently launching themselves roughly thirty feet in the air, screaming all the way.

"Waaahh! Why are we flying!?" Katara cried.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Sokka shreiked.

They landed at the end of said platform, Toph bouncing off the edge and Katara lunging forth to grab her friend."Don't worry, Toph!" she announced before using all her strength to hall the dangling blind girl back up. This proved unwise, as she ended up hurling the earthbender back into the air.

"Why're we so strong all of a sudden!?" Katara wondered.

"It's the gravity; it's weaker out hear somehow..." Azula reasoned.

"Hang on, Toph, I've got youuu_uuuUUUUH_-!" was the noise sokka made as he lept up to catch the screaming girl, flying upwards like an airbender. As he wrapped his arm around Toph, another Gold Beetle appeared in their path above. Sokka aimed his weapon as best as he could, the force of its own blast propelling the two back down onto the platform where the fire and waterbenders caught and stablized them. A Lazer Hawk and ( as with the scenery) floating Artificial Chaos flanked them. Before the Hawk could shoot, Katara seized the Chaos's water body, converted them into tentacles, used them to grab the large drone, spun at three-sixty degrees, and flung the unit into destinations unknown, courtesy of the low gravity.

More drones intercepted the four.

"Everybody, do what I do!" Sokka annouced, leaping up to a higher platform.

"You mean 'eat meat and not bend'?" the blind girl cracked before Azula and Katara jump with him the waterbender holding the earthbender's hand (much to the earthbender's dismay). The group continued to bound from platform to platform, attacking any offensive drones that met them; though Toph could not fight, as she could see essentialy nothing."Grr, why are we even out here!? I thought we were looking for a ship!?" She reminded as she and Katara soared up high.

"Relax, Toph, everthing's going to work out. Besides, you gotta admit, this is pretty fun!" Katara beamed.

"For _seeing_ people maybe!"

As Azula sailed to the next platform, she caught sight of a strange-looking drone on her immediate right: it resemled one of the Beetles, but was surrounded by six objects that slowly separated fom the drone. Before she could have another thought, the six objects barreled towards her like a swarm of buzzard vutures. In the same instanced, the firebender had an epiphany about one of her more advanced techniqes. She quickly swung her legs in front of her and fireed with all her limbs in the same direction, causing the former princess to literally fly in the opposite direction like a living rocket. She spun and twirled and looped till she had what could be considered a decent grip on this ability. She realized the missles were still persuing her; a thougtful smile appeared on her face. She flew all the way back to her point of flight, then out from behind the drone, leading its missles back with her, destroying the unit.

The four eventually made into another opening in the ARK, which lead down to wide, a semi-triangular-shaped shute with various non-floating platforms haning oof the walls. As they breezed down, they were cught off guard by an Artificial Chaos clinging to the bottem of one of the platform, predictably esimilated by Katara and splashed into another Lazer Hawk.

They touched down to the ground; noticing a doorway in front of them, they skipped through it, finding a pair of Lazer Beeltes that Azula immediatly destroyed with two furious kicks of blue flame. There was a tall step which they hopped over; they now stood before another strange plaform sitting just before a gate of yellow, horizontal light beams.

"Great. What now, fearless leader?" Toph inquired.

The "leader" stroked his chin."I guess we should hold a perimeter untill Aang finds us..." Sokka mused, right before more Lazer Hawks and Beetles poured in through the doorway.

The group backed up and taking stances, accidentally stepping on the platform, putting enough pressure onto it for the light gate to dissappear, the platform (actually a tram) speeding out of the apparent exit and carrying the frighten four with with. It traveled on a glowing rail that trailed abroad outside the station.

"Can't anything for once just happen the way we _think_ it is!?" Toph wondered loudly.

"Toph, there are boulders in the way. Bend them!' Katara annouced.

Her eyes widened."No way...There's earth up here? Finally!"

"Well, technicly there from space so I don't think they would qualify as earth..." Azula started.

Regardless, the Blind Bandit felt for the boulders, and bent them out of the path of the futuristic tram. The tram lead to even more alien machinery; there were ledges with strange cylinders whose tops went up and down, hovering green and orange panels with horzontal line/lights that corresponded with their color.

"What is the purpose of all these devices?" Azula wondered.

"I don't know but they're are so many..." Sokka added, then smirked,"bet' I can hit more stuff then you..."

"You're on," the firebender retorted.

The two began competatively shooting at every destructible object passed by, from cylinders to drones to even boulders that didn't even pose a threat to them.

After a bit more target practice, the tram lead into an orange tunnel going slightly downward.

"It looks like it ends somewhere around here..." Toph annouced.

"Aw man! Just when I was getting high score...!" Sokka whined.

"I think there's something more important happening than your hit percentage..." Katara reminded, looking back.

"I know, saving the universe, sorry..." the teen warroir consigned.

"Actually, I was talking about that thing..." the waterbender replied, pointing behind the group. The rest turned to see an enormous drill spinning right for them.

"Where did _that _come from!?" Sokka vocalized.

"As if it matters..." Azula replied, already in the process of charging a lighting bolt and firing at it directly. Though it wasn't destroyed, sparks flew as it slowed down completely; the tram continued on.

* * *

A huge air tunnel swirled across the hallway, sucking in all sorts of unfortunate badniks towards the Avatar's wind sphere and shredding them to pieces behind him as he rocketed through.

No machine was safe; turtles, fighters, and hammer mech alike were all torn apart before they could even react to his presence. Six Egg Fighters with sheilds attempted to brace for impact, but only lasted half a second as the Avatar blasted a torrent of fire from his mouth, converting them along with a portion of the hall to a glowing, molten mess before being instantly cooled from the air sphere rushing past. Three Egg Gunners flew away from the Avatar in a similar fashion to the three green machine encountered earlier, fireing their missles and bullets in utter futility. The Avatar sent a vertical air blade that split the middle one in half; the blade was immediately expanded outwards, shoving the two halfs against the other two against the walls on either side, crushing them further as the Avatar blew past them. It was clear that nothing could stop this fully realized thirteen-year-old.

* * *

Making back inside the station, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Azula stepped into a familiar looking room with glass flooring, windows that showcased the stars, and a circular panel in the center of he floor.

"Huh, deja'vu..." remarked Toph.

Looking around, Sokka noticed another large metallic device sitting on the floor to the right; it had a wide set of buttons and a glass screen suspended above."Hey..." he smiled,"I bet I can using one o' those thingys to find a way out of here!" he beamed, running over to it.

"You're not serious, are you?" commented Azula,"We don't even know what to call it."

Katara raised an eyebrow as well.

"Yeah, but this isn't first one I found either. You'd be suprised how far I've gotten just by wingin' it..." Sokka replied, laying his weapon on the side and randomly tapping the keys like monkey, his tounge stuck out. "You never know, maybe this is where Eggman keeps the escape pods, or maybe I can turn off the cannon from here..." he mused.

" 'escape pods'?" Katara repeated to herself.

"Well, you've got five more mintues before it goes off; better do something, Snoozles," Toph reminded.

"Noted," he replied.

Katara seemed to bare a befuddled expression on her innocent face."Um, so, is there anything I should be doing?" she inquired half heartedly.

Sokka wasn't looking."Ugh, I dunno, maybe just, er, stand in the middle of the room or something? Like, set a perimeter, incase more machine monsters find us, that'd be good..." he rambled, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

The young waterbender complied nontheless, slowly pacing onto the wide panel, facing the entrance/exit. It was not long before the girl found her eyes redirected to her brother, still messing with the machine, with no sense of anxiety on his face whatsoever, as if...as if he knew how to use it...

Come to think of it, the young warrior has so far shown a suprising amount of intuitiveness and wisdom as they traveled throughout the gargantuan man-made satalite. Even when stranded in the middle of outerspace, he showed no fear or apprehension like he usually would, but those times were due to the fact that he didn't... know any better. Of course, Katara knew this was probably steming from his instinct to lead his loved ones to safety, that he does all the time. Still, it was never with as much optimism as what she was seeing before her. The waterbender's gaze shifted to his alien clothing, and down to that bizzare cannon-like weapon leaned near his feet."Um...so, Sokka, where did you...say you found that thing again?" she managed to ask.

Sokka stopped typing for a moment."What? This thing? I just saw it on the floor somewhere; I don't remember where, but it was in a room...somewhere..." he explained, resuming his typing.

"...a..." she swallowed,"...and...the suit...?" she choked.

"It was in a crate in some storage room; I thought it could be armor..." Sokka responded nearly without a beat.

Katara recalled also the peculiar precision Sokka employed in utilizing said weapon, almost like someone...like he learned how to use it...

"You nervous about somethin', Sugar Queen?" Toph inquired,"your heartbeat just went up a few notches..."

"Hm? Oh, I'm fine, I just...need to sit down for a minute..." she dissmissed, reverting to a sitting position on her knees. It was then that the teen's vision caught upon a anomoly that especially purturbed her: comepletely surrounding the panel she was sitting on was what appeared to be a groove between it the rest of the floor; she couldn't sight the bottom of this groove, as if...as if it trailed through the floor itself...as if...as if the whole panel were meant to be detached...

...Katara then remembered that painfull conversasion with Azula, before her brother had found them, before the former princess opened up to Katara; what she told her about the waterbendeing machines, how it was all so convenient, how she was humiliated by her brother in that duel, and for a time, he was...better then her...and then she remembered something else Azula had told her, something she originaly believed to be such a heartless, sadistic statment that was meant simply to hurt her. But now, as Katara sat in that spot, her eyes widened, her heart rate increasing, one or two drops of moisture near her brow, staring on utter horror at the person she never thought could turn on her, even more so than Aang...it all seemed so possible...

_"All I ask is that when you get launched into deep space, your brother's power driven eyes the last thing you see, just remember - the evil phycho princess tried to warn you."_

"Buttons, buttons, buttons! Man, can't there ever be at least one wheel or lever or-" the former waterbender was unable to finish his thought as his whole body convulsed and writhed uncontrolibly; he was immediatly dragged away from the computer and across the floor by an outside force, only stopping before his sister, her arms posed in a rigid waterbending form."GRRRUHAH! K-Katara! W-what...are you doing!?"

"Shut up!" was her tearful response, even more shocked of herself then her brother as he grunted and squawked loudly in agony.

"What's wrong with him!?" Azula said, turning around towards the commotion.

"What the-Why the heck're you bloodbending Sokka for!?" Toph demanded.

"_Blood_bending? They can do that?"Azula wondered.

"I-I don't know! Oh, why did you have to tell me those things about Sokka!?" the distraught girl cried.

"I was _crazy_ when I told you those things! You're not supposed to listen to crazy people!" the firebender hastily explained.

"When was it, Sokka? Was it after the War? After the meteor? When did you side with Robotnik!?" she demanded, not believing her own words.

"I...I don't even know...what-_grf_-you're talking about!" Sokka cried.

The blind earthbender raised her hands, speaking slowly."Katara, you are _overreacting._ You need to _calm down_, and let go of Sokka..." she tried.

"_Am_ I overreacting!? It all makes sense when you think about it! Who else could've told him about the water monster, how to use that weapon, or how to get up here in the first place!? WHO_ else_, Toph!?"

"Well, it certianly wasn't me, that's for sure..." replied a familiar voice as the door flew open.

Katara gasped as she spun to the doorway."Dr. Robotnik-!" she was cut off as all four of the teens were instantly sucked within the confines of the Chicken Vacuum.

Dr. Eggman, seated within his signature Egg Mobile, marveled at his genius once again, leaning back into his seat as he stared at his invention."Why did ever stop using this thing?"

* * *

The Avatar burst through the final door, at last touching down onto the thin bridge of the central control room; his arrows faded bach to normal as he went out of the Avatar State.

The first thing Aang observed was that the room was empty, he wondered where Eggman was off to. But that wasn't important now, as the airbender had to figure out how to stop the Eclipse Cannon. He ran across the bridge to the main computer terminal, scanning its broad complexity. There were so many buttons and keys the, young Avatar couldn't possibly know where to begin to learn which one did which. A part of him was glad he didn't take Sokka with him, who would've pressed everything at random like a primate. The screen above was lattered with unknowable information that it was almost giving Aang a seizure just looking at it. Suddenly, a synthetic feminine voice out of nowhere calmly announced, _"Eclipse Cannon firing in minus three minutes..."_, effectively translating the text shown. In restrospect, Aang wished Eggman were still here, since he he was seemingly the only one able to stop the countdown, or, atleast he assumed, his mind recolecting those images. He pondered this whilst impulsivly laying his hand against a single key, accidentally causing the whole platfrom - Aang startled - to rise atleast four feet high while it rotated by ninety degrees along with the terminal. The bulgy, organic-looking membrane also retreated up the pillar a few feet...

The Avatar turned to his right to see a multicorlored glow radiating from his previous position, as well as sensing great quantities of energy flowing out of that direction._ Is that...?_

Aang cautiosly stepped around the plaform, the sense becoming stronger and stronger until...until the boy stood right in front of them, for in front of him, wedged into an _X_-shaped stone, were the other six Chaos Emeralds.

He felt the energy with in his clothing instenify; he took out the last emerald, and noticed an empty diamond-shaped space in the center of the _X_. Overtaken by curiosity, Aang inched a little closer to the emeralds, motioning to place the ivory emerald into the depression. Just before the jewel was actually plugged in, however, a small electrical current sparked out and ended at the emerald's point, and that's when the Avatar felt it...

He felt a taste of the unlimited, imeasurable, the _ultimate_ power of the seven emeralds combined, singing throught his body. It was terrifiyng, it was exhilerating, and it was all in his grasp. His dream could be realized, everlasting peace would be ensured; not just for the world, but for the universe itself! No more war, no more hate, the Air nomads would be restored, all disease and death would be nullified, every tragidy would erased from the very passage of time and give rise to a perfect world!

_What am I thinking!?_

The Avatar reeled back, the ermerald with him; he breathed audibly.

Aang couldn't believe what went through his mind - he was willing to take advantage of an unknown power not even native to this universe to undo the bounderies placed upon by the spirits to humble mankind.

It could eat away the very balance of the earth - the exect thing Aang was trying to preserve. He could never allow this power to be obtained by _anyone_, not even himself, and much less Eggman; it could easily be used to destroy the planet itslef rather than change it.

But what was the Avatar to do? He had no idea how to turn off the cannon manually, and he had doubts Eggman turn it off for him unless he promised him the last emerald. The only way he could stop it on his own would be to take all seven emerald for himself; it wouldn't that bad an idea, perhaps he could divide them among his friends and...

No, he couldn't even stand the idea of Zuko having one; what made him think his friends wouldn't eventualy grow power hungry once discovering their true potential?

_"Eclispe Cannon firing in minus two mintutes..."_

There had to be another way, more than just two black and white choices, like with the defeat of Ozai - he ended the War without having to take his life, he just needed to learn that...

Hang on, would that work? Aang had no other option; if he was going to try to do it again, he needed to do it quick.

* * *

Within the bridge of Eggman's flagship, the teens were being fixed to the wall two feet off the floor by a couple of Egg Fighters, their wrists and ankles restrained by metal clamps.

"You really had me there for a moment..." the doctor began.

Toph, on the other hand, had most of her body placed inside of a hovering Artificial Chaos' liquid body, with only her head sticking out.

"...I honestly thought I my greatest plan possibly to date was about to go up in smoke before my very eyes," he mused, pacing in a circle, his fasts folded behind his back, glancing at the kids on and off,"I suppose it was due to my being so accustomed to failure; welcoming it almost..." he sighed, resting the back of his hand against his forehead in false regret,"Such a shame that chapter of my life is finally over..." he stared at the kids, waiting for some cliche response.

When the blue robots retreated, Katara took the oppertunity to offer that response,"How could you? Threatening to take the lives of so many people?"

"Ah! I was hoping you'd ask that!" Eggman beamed, snapping his fingers, silently ordering one of his robots to bring him a glass of water,"I've recently had a bit of an indentity crisis - I was utterly stumped on how an individual with an unparreled cranium such as mine could fail at such a trivial objective so many times..." a robot hastily ran upto the doctor with the water, careful not to spill a drop; Eggman took the drink and gobbled it up in a fraction of a second before carelessly toss it aside, it shattering on the metal floor,"I mean really! First it was just one person who got lucky, and then it went a point where almost anyone could be beat me!" a maidbot rushed out of nowhere to clean the mess up while the scientist continued to pace around the room, peering out the incredibly large windsheild,"As if my overall existence was to provide a means of periodical entertainment for the adolescent animal kingdom..."

"Blah, blah, blah, all I'm hearin' is 'I'll feel really old and wimpy so I'm gonna take over the world and no one will ever call me fat again'. Get to the point!" demanded Toph, never backing down no matter what the circumstances.

"My POINT is, Miss-cocky-little-girl-whose-body-I-could-easily-use-for-substitute-_rocket-fuel!_..." he continued, spinning around on a dime,"... is that I think it's about time I start following up on my empty threats: I'm going to depart from this dead-end space station with my entire armada at my disposel to personaly conquer this planet one city after another; I'll probably start with that big one with all the walls," he mused, waving his arms in the air lazily.

"But...but wait a mintue!" Azula remembered,"what about that deal you arranged? You said you'd stop the cannon if the Avatar gave you the jewel. What if he's in the control room waiting for you?"

"Oohoo, but that's the irony of it!" Eggman cheered, trotting to a chair and keyboard that rose from the floor; he sat on it and typed the keys. Apparently, the huge windsheild that nearly equaled the width of the bridge doubled as a monitor; he was already setting a course for Ba Sing Se."I don't even _care_ about those stupid rocks anymore! I've got all the firepower I need to devistate your world within the month! A bit lenghty by my standards, but it'll all be worth it in the end. And with that in mind, does it really matter whether I stop the Ecplipse Cannon or not? I'm just going to annihilate the Fire Nation eventually!" he folded his finger together, rocking back and forth in his seat,"The best part is that I get to see your terrified faces through it all. You're going to be the ultimate witnesses to my ascension to world-overlord; nothing will go unseen by your account - nothing eccept for the Avatar slowly starving to death inside an immpossibly advanced space station that is..."

The very implications of his speech was emotionally buffering enough.

"So you're just giong to wipe out an entire race for no _reason_? That's madness!" Sokka cried.

"NO!" spontaneously roared the doctor, throwing his fingers towards the young warrior."_ 'Madness'_ is squandering your youth searching for seven magical emeralds, only for some patch of walking blue roadkill to come out of nowhere and hop on your destiny like it wasn't even yours! Then he comes back, and does it again, and again, AND AGAIN until you realize that all those fuddy duddy insults he's thrown at you over the years turn out to be nothing short of the the naked truth! Well let me tell you something - by sunrise tomarrow, this world will know who it's true master is, and there's no blue hedgehog, no two-tailed fox, or red FLIPPING echinda that's going to save you now! So get used to it!"

The four were outright agust: what they saw as a planetary threat moment ago now seemed the most deranged man to ever walk the earth.

A robot entered the bridge._"__doctor__..."_

"What!? What is it!?" Eggman demanded, glaring at the unit as if he were the hedgehog in question.

The pawn appeared pick this up, the supposedly heartless machine even startled._"__er, the avatar is currently headed for the docking bay__..."_ it trembled.

_"What?"_ was the question the four thought, Katara allowing it to escape her lips.

The mad doctor twitched visbly at this news."I should've seen that coming," he lamented, a diabolic grin spreading,"I guess he didn't take my threat seriously. I'll be right back..." the doctor slowly walked out the entrance, the door coming down behind him, it echoed with a demoralizing _thud_.

* * *

The Avatar air-scootered out the door into the docking bay and stopped.

Aang hoped his decision was the right one; he simply could not allow anyone else to have that kind of power. He ran to the edge to see Eggamn's flagship floating a couple hundred feet away. Aang had a feeling that was where his friends were right now...

_"I'm sooo happy to see you've made it this far, Avatar Aang!"_

Aang wheeled his head in mutiple directions in futility.

_"You've completed all the levels, and now it's time for your reward...!"_

An huge red blur shot up from below, causing the Avatar to fall over backwards. He looked back up to see an enormous winged mech with a gatling gun for aright arm and a massive drill for a left; it had along tail like dragon, and on the top sat the enraged Doctor Eggman, in person, within a protective glass covered cockpit.

"Get ready! It's time for the Final Boss!"


	16. Egg Dragoon

_**Egg Dragoon**_

As The Avatar glided down a rail, the giant mech parraled him to his right, and immediately swiped at him with its electricly charged drill, forcing Aang to zip to the far left rail before a gap was sliced through the other two rails. Aang tried to shoot multiple fire balls at the mech, but they did nothing to the flying monstrosity.

"HO HO! IT'S GONNA TAKE MORE THAN THAT!" taunted the madened scientist, blasting far into the airbender's path, the mech backflipping to create an electrical wave that slid along the rail.

Aang leapt off his air scooter just before it was extinguished by the wave and made another one in the same motion, inrcreasing his speed.

The mech's mutli-barreled cannon began rotating at the same rate as its drill; Eggman started firing upon the railing, creating various gaps that the Avatar had to avoid or jump over.

Aang neared the colossal vehicle.

"NOT SO FAST!" Eggman cried before the mech's cannon split apart, releasing a huge fireball that forced the Avatar to leap high into the air, the missle destroying a good portion of the rail.

While still airborn, Aang put a great deal of energy into a single kick, generating an equaly huge fireball that impacted against the windsheild, the entire mech reeling away, from the blast, Eggman rocking about the cockpit.

"So it's gonna be like that, is it!? I could do this all night!" the doctor announced. His seat then lower down through the mech into a secondary cockpit into the lower midsection."You know what they say: vengence is best served cold!" As Aang landed, the legs began fireing ice bombs out of its feet, the Avatar either dodged or firebended the projectiles; he quickly gathered up the mist and thew it onto the windsheild, breifly obscuring the doctor's view. Growling in annoyance, Eggman turned on the windsheild wipers to clean away the mist soon enough to see Aang coming at him with his two feet shooting forward, air blasting the mech further away, cracking the windsheild.

"Hello!? Interceptors!? I could use some assistance!" Eggman commanded for some support, ascending back up to the primary cockpit.

Soon after, a trio of familiar looking green robots sped past the Avatar as the mech retreated to the background, spitting mines out of its cannons that floated into the Avatar's path. As Aang avoided the lazer and mines, he used airbending to redirect the mines into the robots, destroying them as more came to take their place; he continued this strategy until it looked like they were all gone. Aang turned around to see a much bigger green robot, this one with arms, quikly gaining on the airbender. He tried bending at it but it appeared impervious as it release its own series of lazer beams that the Avatar was forced to dodge. Eggman's mech returned to Aang's front to overwelm him. Thinking fast, Aang put the brakes on his air scooter, slipping under the green robot and accelerated, hurling a mighty gail of wind that sent the the metal hulk flying back to its creator; and its detroyer, as Eggman intentionally impaled the robot with the mech's drill and threw it back at the boy, who jumped and kicked off of the dead machine, and wrapped persistently his limbs around the mech's right leg. Realizing this, Eggman jerked the steering mechanism in million directions, the mech twirling and looping like crazy, soaring into different sections of the ARK.

* * *

The four hung in their restraints, their hope dead and buried, nothing to comfort them aside the distant beeps and hisses of the lifless ship...

"...I'm sorry I bloodbended you earlier..." Katara broke the silence...

"I'm sorry I tried to save you all by myself..." replied Sokka.

"_I'm_ sorry I made you think your brother was evil..." Azula added, as manipulating others to make the wrong choices eemed to be the only thing she was good at...

"...And once again, I have nothing to contribute to this conversation; I feel so left out sometimes..." Toph lamented...

"I can't believe we're actually gonna lose this time..." recaped Sokka,"I mean, we're the good guys; the good guy're never supposed to lose...right?"

"Not true, I recall besting you and the Avatar myself more then once..." Azula reminded.

"Those were just setbacks," the warrior defended.

"Yeah-huh, that's was the bad guy's always say," the firebender persisted.

"Call it what you like; cause' in the long run, we eventually won the War and saved the world," Sokka established,"what's happening now is...just so unreal...And if Eggman get's that last Chaos Emerald...he'll be unstoppable..."

It was at this statement that Katara's being perked up, smiling slyly,"Yes, he will be unstoppable..."

"Yep, unstoppable..." Sokka repeated.

"You might say, that he'll become a _powerful, destructive force_..."

"Yeah, I suppose..." Sokka considered.

"...that, left unchecked, will intentionally _consume_ the universe and _everything_ in it..." she eluded.

"Well, I dunno about the whole..." he remembered,"...no."

"Yes."

"_Noooo..._"

"Oh, yes..."

"He's not a force, it doesn't count..."

"Admit it, Sokka! Aunt Wu was right this whole time! The meteor changed the course of the entire universe, and now we're feeling the effects of it! Hah! In your _face_!" she gloated, wobbling her triumphant finger towards her brother the best she could.

"You're right, Katara, Aunt Wu _was_ a real fortune teller; sure, an entire continent's about to be annihilated and the world as we know it'll be warped into some crazy, egg-themed society, but hey, at least ya put Sokka's money where his _mouth is_..." the earthbender grilled her friend.

"r-Right. I'm Sorry..."

Toph's words seemed to echo within Azula's mind."..._his mouth..._That's it!" she realized.

"Yes, It's sorta' my substitute for bending..." Sokka explained.

Ignoring Sokka, Azula took a few deep breaths before blasting a blue fireball out of her own mouth, destroying the Artificial Chaos that held Toph captive, who touched down on her foot and hands.

"Alright, Azula!" Sokka cheered, as the blind girl climbed up the up the wall to pry off the their clamps with her bending.

"It just came to me, Uncle Iroh tried it on me once," Azula elaborated after she came to the floor, the others following.

"I'll bet. So, Toph, how much time do we have left?" Sokka queried.

The drenched Blind Bandit paused to recount the minutes, then gasped."We're too late! The cannon's already fired!"

The three gasped in horror, ecpecially Azula."No...Zuko..." she wept.

"...But, wait. Shouldn't we've heard it go off?" Katara broached.

"Good point. Then again, it _has_ been theorized that you can't hear anything in space..." Sokka recited, making Azula cry even louder.

"Sokka!" the waterbender rebuked.

"What? Science can be sadistic sometimes!" the former waterbender whined.

"_Well_, I can hear you two yappin' and we're in space, so somethin' must've gone wrong..." Toph reminded.

"What if Aang gave Eggm-I mean Robotnik the emerald?" Katara wondered.

"But...But Eggman said he didn't care about the emeralds anymore..." the teary-eyed princess recolected.

"It's either that, or Aang figured out how to turn off the cannon himself; but I can't see how..."

The warrior was interrupted by an alarm sounding throughout the flagship, countless robots of various shapes and sizes headed for the bridge.

"We got trouble..." Toph announced, sensing all of this.

"D'oh man! Where's my light cannon!?" Sokka panicked, whipping in several directions to find his beloved space weapon, before his gaze fell the upon the chair and keyboard Eggman left vacant,"Waitaminute, that's right! This is exactly where we were trying the get to!" he recalled, running over to the chair.

"Are you really going to start this conversation over again?" Toph smarted.

"As long as I don't get bloodbended again..." Sokka retorted as he took a seat, scanning the keyboard,"Look, same plan as before - you guys hold off the machines while I figure out how to control the spaceship."

"It looks like we don't have much of a choice..." Katara affirmed, gathering the water from the remains of the Artificial Chaos' remains.

Azula and Toph asserted stances as well, before the entrance jerked open, revealing a horde of angry robots that move in to assault.

* * *

The mech skidded against an extention of the ARK, ramming aside a score of asteroids, all in Eggman's futile attempt to force the Avatar off of its leg.

Adjusting the mech's posture in the right position, the doctor aimed the its cannon at Aang; the boy let go before the mech's own leg was shot clean off. Eggman saw that coming; he didn't care.

Using the air to soften his fall, Aang landed on top of a giant green cylinder that revolved. It completed its revolution just in time for Aang to see the mech pointing its drill at him, and to his suprise, it fired out like a spinning rocket of death. The suprise forced Aang into a brief Avatar State, making an air shield around himself that held off the drill for a second, long enough for it to give up its attack and fall out of sight. His eyes and tattoos still glowing, the Avatar launched massive fireblast at Eggman, who countered by fireing a large ice bomb out of the mech's cannon, creating a wide steamcloud that blocked eachother's view comepletely, until the mech lunged down through, Eggman screaming a mad battlecry as he prepared to bring the drill down onto the Avatar, who, turning back to normal, dove off before the cylinder was crudely sliced in half. Aang wheeled around rabidly to conjure a cyclone that enveloped his legs to allow floatation to ascend before the mech swung at him horizontaly. Eggman relentlessly slashed at the Avatar, bashing and cutting away cylinder after cylinder in his wake as the airbender dodged each strike. When enough distance was put between him and the mech, Aang grabbed the surrounding asteroids with his bending and hurled them at the doctor, who guarded with his cannon or parried them with his drill. Converging into the Avatar State again, Aang reconstituted the cyclone into his signature air sphere, pulling back and then charging for the mech. Eggman got the better of mighty airbender once again, the mech quickly seperating into two sections, the Avatar breezing through as if nothing was there. The Avatar put on the brakes and turned back to see the mech seemlessly recombine itself, turning to face him as well.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Eggman cried insanely before rushing the Avatar with his drill once more.

The three benders continued to hold the bridge, taking out any moving mechinization they saw enter.

* * *

Azula punched and kicked with every form she knew of, never missing a single shot of blue flame. Katara used the limited amount of liquid she had to whip the weapon out of every robotic hand that the firebender couldn't intercept, and swiped at their eyes when she had an opening. And as far as the robots were concerned, Toph might as well have been accused of bloodbending also; having spent the afternoon trying to manipulate the significantly purer metal of the space station, the far cheaper units were at her mercy, the fast-learning earthbender immobilizing them and sending them flying back out the entrance.

"Sokka, any luck with the controls!?" Toph inquired, not expending as much energy as the other girls.

The former waterbender couldn't tell why, but his usual apprehension towards extraordinary things returned as he sat there motionless in the seat, his jaw dangling in hesitation, his fingers positioned as if he were about to press a single key anytime soon, which he had not done since the machines came in; perhaps it was to be accociated with feeling the blunt of his sister's misplaced fear."I uhhh..almost umm...err...maybe...I...think i've ...duhhh..." was all he could say, mesmerized by the gigantic monitor.

"Ex_cuse_ me, were on a time limit here, it's not like you're performing brain surgery. I thought you liked science...!?" Toph reminded.

"I know, but this is different; it's _space_ science! I just don't wanna make a mistake..." Sokka urdently explained. Covering his eyes with his hand, Sokk nervously wirled his index finger 'round and 'round until it fell upon a random key.

At that moment, a large tuning fork-shaped joystick popped out from the keyboard, predictably causing the teen to cringe. When nothing happened, he beheld the object, slowly pressing a finger against it, making it lean to the left. Without warning, the room around him tilted left as well, the other teens stumbling onto the floor along with the robots, who slided at the end due to their weight.

"er-Sorry!" Sokka peeped, quickly attempting to rectify his mistake by grabbing hold of the stick and forcing it back to a straight posture; physics responded by rocking the entire vessal the other direction, flipping his friends to the right and flinging the robots to the other end, fataly damaging the units. The ship stabalized soon after.

"_Please _tell me you just found the steering mechanism?" Azula groaned, hoping that wasn't the Eclipse Cannon.

He blinked in realization."I...think I did!" Sokka beamed,"Oh-ho yeah! Make way for Sokka the ship-bender! Now all I have to do is figure out how to make it go forward..." he wondered, unaware that the ship's navigation systems were voice operated.

_"...Command recognized..."_ read the unreadable text on the monitor, right before the rocket prepulsion kicked in, the entire vessel lurching forward and tripping the benders on there backsides once again. They stared at the boy in awe.

"Woah, you really _are _a ship-bender..." Toph marveled.

* * *

The Eggman and Avatar soared around at a distance from the space station through the hive of asteroids. Aang continued to hurl the space stones at Eggman while the doctor kept on firing his cannon.

The mech swung and slashed with its drill, creating multiple electric energy arcs that even the Avatar had to dodge, whizzing up down left and right as asteroids were carved in twos.

Aang got an asteroid, crumbled it into pieces, and jammed them into the mech's cannon barrels before it could open fire again; he then engulfed the mech in an eruption of flame. The mech's tail whizzed out from the fire, slapping the Avatar some sixty feet away. Eggman drilled for him again, but the Avatar saw it coming, dashing toward him and purposely allowing his air sphere to extinguish as he breezed by it, the ends of his robes singed by the electricity; in the same instance, he rotated and used a firy downward slice to slice the drill clean off the mech at the joint and, in the same spinning motion, kicked the mech away with a wind blast. Aang then grabbed three asteroids and squeezed them into giant circular razor blades, one twice as wide as the other two; he swung them at the mech, the two small ones severed its wings while the large one and split the whole thing's lower portion off in a way it wasn't meant to be.

Horrified by the child's power, Eggman detached his Egg Moblie from the mech altogether, and bolted hastily back for the ARK. A futile gesture indeed, as the fully realized Avatar summoned another air sphere and rocketed for him, battering what was left of the sparkleing mech far out of his path.

The powerless genius franticly avoided another series of humongus fireballs. The Avatar created a wind tunnel that surrounded the pod, curving upward and expanding into a huge typhoon, taking in scores of asteroids that violently colided with Eggman's pod, until the docter suddenly found him self at the center of the storm, his pod pressed in between two boulders.

Th Avatar ascended in front of him; the tiny vessel was continuously squeezed, bending the metal and cracking the glass as it became thinner and thinner, the helpless doctor futher crammed within his own vehicle.

Unbeknownst to them both, the remains of the mech spiraled all the way towards the port of a certain flagship, crashing into it; and as with any E-series mech, the ruptured and overly-charged power core detonated, creating a gargantuous explosion that criticaly damaged the vessel.

* * *

The four were rocked off their feet once again, even the warrior slipped off the seat; they screamed as the bridge turned sideways.

* * *

Sensing something was wrong, the Avatar peered behind the petrafied antagonist to see the flaming ship, well beyond any self-locomotion, gradually flip on its side and curve into a crooked nosedive, plummeting striaght down into the earth's atmosphere.

_KATARA!_

HIs tattoos and eyes dimming for just a moment, the Avatar blasted down for his friends, hauling Eggman down with him.

The battleship descended further away from Space Colony ARK, the pink-hot friction stripping away the hull; the huge vessel itself was on the brink of tearing apart.

The Avatar barreled closer to the ship, deflecting incoming pieces and evading larger ones. In the same instance Eggman's pod was evisorated around him and left him comepletely exposed, the Avatar expanded his sphere so that Eggman could be sucked in with him. He sped past the burning vessel, gaining friction of his own, navigating in its path. He turned around and intentionaly slowed down, allowing himself to be on a colision course with the flagship, inevitably crashing through the windsheild of the bridge.

It appeared as though time froze: the four, especially the waterbender, opened their eyes just long enough to see their friend, bursting back into their lives before they were snuffed out. The Avatar pulled out of his robes the ivory jewel that changed everything in one day, and would restore it in but a moment.

**"Chaos CONTROL!"**

Every living thing in the deck was consumed in the white light, and as time moved again, they're was not a soul to be seen before the bridge as well became engorged in fire.

* * *

Sonic popped open one eye to see what looked like a huge fire ball in the distant sky, ripping apart into smaller fragments, destined to land safley into the ocean nearby.

The blue hedgehog chuckled to himself, and squirmed into a more comfortable position on the tree base he was sleeping against; something told him he wouldn't have to worry about Eggman for a while...

* * *

Fire Lord Zuko sat meditatively before the turtleduck pond in his royal garden, absorbing the moonlight. He knew he should've been in bed right then, as Long Feng stated, but he it simply didn't sit well with him to be fast asleep while his freinds were searching for the emerald and the world on the brink of a whole new war.

Suddenly, a crackle of light from above nudged him out of his trance; he looked up in the sky and saw nothing. But then, several sparks of electricity formed from nowhere in a general point in space until a blinding flash force him to turn away for a split second, multiple screams to be heard as at least six figures splashed into the man-made pond before him.

The monarch blinked twice, gazing upon the lake for any further movement...

He got his answer when Aang whipped out of the pond, bewilderedly scanning his latest environment, noticing Zuko at some point.

"WE MADE IT!" he sounded, sturring the others up from the surface.

"We made it!?" Sokka repeated, realizing where he was,"WE MADE IT!"

"We're HOME!" Toph cried.

"You did it! Oh, Aang...!" Katara started before tackling the Avatar and kissing him passionately. The airbender fully embraced her, having not done so forr a long time (which was only about thirteen hours).

"g-Guys, what happened!?" he asked, standing up

"ZUKO! You're not going to believe it!" Azula shreiked happily, almost violently clamping his hands around her brother's shoulders,"I was up in space and stuck in a dark room with your friends and all I could think about you and Mom and how nobody loves me and I don't wanna be evil anymore I missed you so much!" she broke into tears of joy, hugging her speechless brother fiercly.

"b...where...who...Sokka, what are you wearing-"

"We _did it_ Zuko..." the warrior interrupted,"He was getting ready to destroy everything but we stopped him, _Aang_ stopped him. It was by the skin of our teeth, by we actually saved the world..."

"oop! Hold that thought..." Toph announced before quickly taking a stance and jerking her fist up in a seemingly random direction, as the sound of earth displacing and a grunt of pain was heard in the background, catching everyone's attention. They all turned to see Eggman frozen in a sneakinf away position, his face mushed into the stone slab the Toph summoned. His broken spectacles slipped off as he fell flat on his back, momentarily unconscous.

The children huddled around him.

"Gentlemen," Katara began in a mock aristocratic tone of voice," I present to you: the _High Emperor Eggbotnik Supreme!"_ she joked.

"More like 'Baldy Mc Nosehair Supreme' !" Toph added, causing them all to laugh or at least giggle, which sturred the scientist awake, his expose eyelids cracking open, revealing a set of baby blue iris.

It didn't take long for Eggman to access what just happened."...ummm...parley?"

In a clever scene transition, Eggman found himself chained up and holding the bars in the back window of a police carrage."JAIL!? I can't go there! I'm too pretty for jail! They'll mop the floor with me!" he freaked out.

The group, now with Chief Hakoda, Suki, Bato, and Master Piandao, were all just outside the palace, a squad of officers preparing to ship the doctor to the royal prison tower when the order was given to depart.

"You should've thought of that before threatening our lives," Zuko reminded,"Now, you're going to pay for your acts of war the same as my father - life inprisonment."

"But please, I don't deserve this! couldn't I just have community service for life or...or...wait a second..." Eggman remembered, his comical demeanor vanishing,"I set the Eclipse Cannon to go off ten minutes ago; how is all of this still here!? Don't tell me I missed...!?"

It was clear that everyone was wondering that as well, except the Avatar, who stepped forward."I stopped it Eggman," he revealed.

"You WHAT!? HOW!?" he demanded, his visible eyes bulging in rage.

"By doing the only thing I could: I used energybending to take the Chaos Emeralds and scattered them across the four corners of the earth; far out of anyone's reach, including yours! It's what you get for abusing that space station."

"Excuse me? That was MY station we were in! I do what I want with it!" the doctor blurted out.

"No, it wasn't!" Aang replied, holding his staff firmly against the ground,"Space Colony ARK was meant to be a beacon a of hope and prosperity for your world; but you sought to steal your grandfather's greatest creation for your own selfish imparative! It was never meant to destroy planets, Eggman; it was meant to protect them. And now, your going to pay not only for the crimes you committed on this world, but yours as well! Take him away!"

The rhino went off, and the carrage carring the flabbergasted Eggman to his sentence.

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! I can't be defeated like _this!_ I should be worshipped by now! oh WHYYY, WHYY _can't I ever wiiin!?..._"

As the doctor's voice faded away, so seemingly did the woes of the world; peace had resumed as if it were never disrupted.

A pridictable awkward glance at the young Avatar...

"Did you understand a word you just said?" inquired Toph.

"It...came and went..." Aang tried to interpret.

"You did it, Sokka, you fixed everything..." Suki praised, hugging her boyfriend affectionately.

Sokka hugged back."Yeah, well, I was just helping..."

"Ya did more than help, Sokka..." Hakoda started,"If it weren't for you, we would've never been able to know how to stop him."

"And spirits knows what would've happened then..." Bato added.

"There wouldn't of even have been a war to decide..." said Katara.

"And it's probably an understatement by now, but I wanna say it anyway: I'm proud of you, son." the chief concluded, laying his hand on his son's shoulder.

The family hugged; it was a touching picture...

"...But you _still_ have to apologize to Aunt Wu for smearing her!" the waterbender reminded punctualy. Everyone had their own manner of sighing.

"Um, yeah, this is good and all, but I'm _reeeaally _hungry; so, if ya don't mind, I'm just gonna help myself to some leftover hippocow..." the former waterbender lamented before dashing into the palace.

When he was gone, Katara's gazed shifted to someone else."h-Hey, Azula...?"

She turned to her.

"Did you mean it when you said I had the strongest will?"

Azula recalled her statement."Well I...yes, I did..." Azula replied.

"Stronger than Toph?" the waterbender added with a smile.

"The strongest." the firebender answered with a smile.

The remaining males (and Suki) glanced at Toph.

"Meh, meaningfull talk, kind words, you know how it is..." the earthbender shrugged; though inwardly, she was happy for her.

Aang seemed to smile for her."Well, all I need to know is, the world is saved, and there's not a force in the universe that can change that now..." the Avatar finalized, more confident in is own word than ever before.

* * *

All was silent across the desolate wasteland that was once Wu Long Forest, the site of the final decisive battle of the Hundred Year War; it had since been abandoned by all wild life in the wake of the great fire brought on by the power of Sozin's Comet.

Suddenly, an ominous light radiated from above the clouds. They split apart as a column of teal luminesence dropped down to the ground, reaching a familiar naturaly formed stone pillar, forming a risidual echo of the Avatar removing Ozai's firebending. The light seemed to cover the pillar like a blanket in a manner that eriely resembled energybending, turning from teal to green as it travled down and snaked across the wasteland, until it reached to ocean, tranferring from green to blue as it slowly continued into the horizon.

* * *

**And that's all she wrote, folks.**

**Deadpool: All who wrote? Didn't you write this? I knew you suck at action scenes!**

**N-No, what I mean is, I've finally finished the first season of my fanfic!**

**Deadpool: And by "first season", you mean "a whole year and a half of procrastinating and dragging on longer than the Dragon Ball Z and Naruto animes combined just to write two handfulls of chapters"**

**Hey, for your information, Nolan North_,_ I spend a lot of time thinking through the plot of every chapter and premeditate for far future ones; besides, I was piled up in overdue homework last semester, I had to do twice as much as I usually would. I'd say I was pretty faithfull for even continuing this story.**

**Deadpool: Uh-huh, And the fact that you were grounded for leaning on a new expensive chair and breaking it in half had nothin' to do with it...**

**I already told you, it was _not _properly reinforced, I could file a lawsuit for that!**

**Deadpool: what-_evurr_ *teleports***

***mopes* Anyway, I thank you all for sticking with me for a whole year and a half. I promise the next chapter will be an all Sonic character episode. So get your hedge-hats and buckle up for season two -Book 2: Emerald**

**Please Review! **


	17. His World

**Are ya ready, kids?**

**Deadpool: Aye-Aye, captian!**

**I can't heeeeaar yoooouuu!**

**Deadpool: AYE-AYE, CAPTIAN!**

_**OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH...**_

_**Who lives on an island with luscious geen hills?**_

_**Deadpool: SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**Who wears two white gloves and has points on his quills?**_

_**Cole McGrath: SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**He runs really fast with a speed ye can't beat...**_

_**Star Fox: SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**...As sure as the red o' the shoes on his feet!**_

_**Sonic: ME-ME-ME-ME!**_

_**Everybody...!**_

_**SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**SO-NIC-HEDGE-HOG!**_

_**SONIIIIIIC HEDGEHOOOOOOOOOOOOG Ahahahaha, Ahoohuhurhaaarrh!**_

_***Ocean noises***_

* * *

**Book Five**

**Emerald**

**Chapter One**

**His World**

* * *

A rock burst through the wooden blind doors of a window.

The citizens screamed as a horde of renegade Earth Kingdom soldiers raided the peacefull city of Yu Dao.

Whole structures were leveled to rubble by the combined effort of crazed earthbenders.

Farm animals and runaway wagons flew across the streets.

Men and women were invaded and assaulted in their own apartments and thrown out of two-story buildings.

Elders and novice firebenders fought back as bravely as they could, as useless as it was; even earthbenders born and raised in the city itself had joined in on the chaos.

One middle-aged earthbender with long, haggard beard and receding hairline stomped the ground and forced a column of rock to launch a man far into the air and screaming down onto a vegetable cart (which thankfully had no cabbages in it).

"_Nice _one, Gow!" cheered on of the other raiders.

"You think that's good, just wait till I get my hands on the mayor..." replied Gow.

_"Wait! Stop!"_ called a voice from above, catching the attention of a few thugs.

They looked up to see a portly man in expensive clothing leaning on the rails of a balconey."Please, you must stop this senseless violence!" he pleaded.

"Well, whadda' ya know, boys? Just the man we're lookin' for...!" Gow announced, taking out his welding hammer and conjuring a stone to eye-level, quickly thwacking it with his hammer and sending it flying toward the balconey, smashing some of its supports, and causing the platform to collapse with Mayor Morishito on it, the man tumbling into the streets before Gow.

Spears were pointed at the mayor as he attempted to get up; he turned and watched the vandals ruthlessly drag his beloved wife and daughter outside. The girl broke free of her hold long enough to come at the captor with the kitchen knife, only for the laughing henchmen to grab her knife-holding wrist, snatch it from her grasp and shove her face first on the ground with her mother.

"No! Kori!" the mayor cried, turning to the leader woefully."Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean?" cracked Gow,"We just figured we ought to show you the same hospitality that your people showed us," he explained, placing his hand on his chest innocently,"Namely storming our villages and burning them to the ground," he fingerd his beard thoughtfully,"Of course for the lack of firebenders, we'll just have to settle with _burying_ them; I'm sure it'll reap the same results..." he and the others chuckled.

"B-But, the War is over! L-Listen to me, what you're doing is pointless; if you and your men have a problem, you should seek a meeting with the Fire Lord or, or the Avatar! It is his duty to..."

"Oh, but I wouldn't dare interrupt the 'higher powers' during their little 'peace tours', would we, boys?" they shook theirs heads sarcasticly,"Such a shame that they're so busy covering the world with pretty rugs that they haven't found the time to actually attend to a few important matters, like the colonies, starting with the oldest one of all, perhaps?" he gestured to the city that stood surrounded them.

"I won't let you!" Kori shouted, springing to her feet and bending a rock at Gow, who deflected it with his hammer and caused the girl's right shin to sink under the surface.

"Aren't you a fiesty one?" the leader joked,"And here I was thinking I was never going to get to use this thing..." he lamented as he paced over to the teen, his weapon boasted.

"NO! Take me instead!" Morishito cried out, the thugs restraining him and his struggling wife.

"I would have, but taking you out would be just another casualty," Gow explained,"Now _this_ on the other hand..." he started, seizing the girl by her hair,"...would be a pretty big message to the Fire Lord." Gow jerked the girls head back so that he could look her in the eyes, and vice-versa."And that message is..." he raised the hammer above his head,"You're not welcome here!"

Suddenly, a gust of wind picked up around group, which gradually began circling the area as if it were being bent; it soon turned into a full-blown twister.

"What's goin' on?" asked one of the henchmen stupidly.

"Is it the Avatar?" wondered the mayor's wife.

That theory was quickly dispersed as the cyclone intensified; and strangely enough, gaining a continually growing hint of blue that seemed to illuminate it...

The wind instantly dispersed as a short figrure appeared out of nowhere standing atop a light post with his arms cross and his spiky back turned; he turned toward the leader, revealing the grinning face of a familiar anthropomorphic hedgehog."Whazzup', ya'll!?"

Kori gasped._"The Blue Spirit!"_ she realized.

Gow on the other hand was, like the others, at a total loss for words, his large hammer slowly slipping from his loose grip and falling onto his bare foot; his whole body jolted back to reality as he hopped around clutching his swelling foot and muttering various colorfull terms to himself."ggrr-g-Get him!"

The only bender not dumbfounded enough to comply summoned and hurled a rock at the figure, who lept high in the air as the light post was destroyed.

"Awwww yeah!" Sonic cried as he somersaulted and curled into a ball and dashed for the men.

Sonic homing attacked three earthbenders and touched down, spinning one leg out and toppling a fourth one. He sped away and started tripping more thugs throughout the city before they even knew what hit them, leaving them vulnerable to the defenders.

The hedgehog then sped back to the previous spot, easily avoiding the rocks thrown at him by the Gow and the thugs. Sonic purposely stopped in front of Gow and taunted another soldier.

"I got'em, boss!" he announced as he quickly prepared a rock to throw.

"Wait! Nononononon-!" the Gow pleaded with his hands waving, realizing the vector the rock would have, right before the hedgehog zipped away at the last second, the chunk of earth hitting a tad more below the belt than the leader would have liked...

Sonic, the thugs, the mayor, and even his wife cringed in empathy as the leader doubled over in agony, curling inward with his hands cupped between his legs.

The hedgehog darted over to Kori, sweeping her off her feet, as he carried her in his arms."Sonic's the name; speed's my game!" he recited before taking off, whisking the girl to safety.

_"...get...him..."_ Gow sputtured, pointing a shaky finger to the direction Sonic went.

The remaining two nodded, elevating the earth below their feet and using it as platforms to slide away on after the hedgehog. But out of nowhere, their platforms halted in place, sending them flying into the same vegetable cart that a victim just crawled out of.

"Hah!" he gloated, pointing to them.

The mayor's wife remained in her earthbending stance for a few more seconds."_They're _not getting anything..." she declared, helping her husband up.

"Thank you, dear," Morishita said,"Now, we can turn the tide of this chaos..."

Sonic sped up the roof of a tall building, gently setting the girl on her feet.

"There, this should be safe enough!" he decided, crossing his arms.

The astonished Kori bowed in respect."Thank you, kind spirit," she gratified.

"Oh, don't thank me yet; I still got some work to do..." the hedgehog replied, turning around and running off the roof top."It's time for some spring-cleaning!" he cried as he twirled in the air, coming down onto the foes...

* * *

"Wow, so this is Omashu..." Amy beheld as she, Tails, and Silver flew over the vast expanse surrounding the great mountian city, though the pink headgehog required a little telekenetic assistance from the gray one.

During the six days of their journey, the three had been soaring all across the Earth Kingdom, searching for their friends and gathering information. So far, the haven't met up with any other members of the so-called "Sonic Heroes"; and although sightings and witnesses were prevalent, the discriptions veried greatly, not that the reactions and panic at the presents of live talking anthromorphs made such a task simpler; they've normally been trying to stay out of sight so as not to start further distress and stop at a village for food or directions when neccesary. Right now, their mission was to reach the nearest city to spread the word of the threat of Eggman , mostly to stir up any possible information on the matter.

"Tails, why are we going here? Shouldn't we be trying to find where this 'Ovatar' lives so we can tell him about Eggman?" Silver inquired.

The fox turned to Silver."I already told you, Silver, it's pronounced '_Avatar_'. The villigers told us that he's a nomad, so he doesn't have a home; they also said that the king of Omashu is close friends with the Avatar, so he has to know where he would normally be..." he explained.

"I'm sorry, _when _exactly did they tell you that? Because all I got was 'AHHH, FLYING DEMON FOX! PLEASE DON'T EAT MY _SOULLLL_!' " the male hedgehog lamented, swinging his new sword around for effect.

"Ah! Stop waving that thing around, Silver! Didn't you mother ever tell you not to run with scissors?" Amy pouted.

The future hedgehog snorted."Please, scissors are _sooo _2065; besides, you're just jealous because I have a real weapon and you're stuck with that stupid hammer..." he smirked, before getting pounded on the head by said hammer.

"Come on, you guys, we need to find a way to reach the king without causing a commotion," Tails reminded as they were well over the wall.

Amy caught sight of something."Hey, look! there's a landing pad over there!" she announced, pointing her hammer down towards what resemled a large platform just wide enough to allow a huge blimp to rest upon it.

"Huh, I didn't think this world was advanced enough to have invented aircrafts..." Tails admitted.

"Well, if we're gonna land in public, we might as well be polite about it..." Silver suggested, rubbing his fuzzy cranium.

As they touch down behind the airship, they noticed a guard facing opposite of the ship with a slumped posture, as if he were sad.

"Welp', let the screaming commence..." Silver consigned.

They walked over to the man."Um, excuse me, sir?" Tails called meekly.

The guard turned, and did gasp in shock at the sight.

"Just so we're clear: yes_,_ we're talking animals, and yes, we came down from the sky - please don't throw the ground at us," Silver explained flatly.

The picture only seemed to make the guard even more depressed."This day just keeps getting more unreal by the minute..." he moaned.

"If he's not busy, we'd like to see the Earth King please; it's very urgent," Tails explained; he then looked around and realized something,"Um, how come you're the only guy here?"

The guard tilted his head and sighed."...It shouldn't be a suprise; all the personel is busy with preparing the burial..."

" 'Burial'?" Amy repeated, the three looking at eachother.

The guard set his face into his palm in angst, but found the courage to elaborate."Earlier today, our beloved King Bumi...passed away in his sleep..."

The three gasped.

Rouge sailed across the forestry, letting the wind do the work of keeping her afloat, when suddenly a small object whizzed up from below and almost struck her, had she not banked out of the way. The bat floated down onto a branch to recuperate, when she notice the same projectile speeding back down to the ground and making a _thwack _sound, followed by an infuriated groan. Her gaze descended further an further until she smirked.

It was mone other than Knuckles the Echidna, sitting on his duff and rubbing his forehead, along with what appeared to be a boomerang lying next to him. Rouge giggled: the situation spoke for itself...

The bat decided to take her take time climbing down the tree, not wanting give her presence away just yet.

"Stupid evil magic knife, stupid flying around around and hitting people..." the echidna grumbled quietly, picking up the "cursed" blade and resuming his trek,"Yeah, I got your number, buddy; you can't hit me if I don't throw you. I'll I gotta do is keep holding you until I figure out how to destroy you..." he calculated, his eyes closed and his snout held up arrogantly.

Unknown to the echidna, the bat was snaking down the tree in front of him; she hung upside-down from a branch right in his path that was low enough for her head to be the same level as the echidna's, intent on scaring the jellybeans out of him.

Unfortunately, Rouge had failed to detect the sudden increase in the speed of Knuckle's pace; and with his nose pointed towards the sky and his eyes shut, the echinda inadverdently pressed his lips into Rouge's, their eyes bugging out in realization.

Knuckles jumped back into a fighting pose while Rouge tumbled to the dirt.

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!?" the echidna demanded, his face almost as red as his fur.

"gr-_MY _PROBLEM!? _YOU _WALKED INTO _ME_! WHO WALKS AROUND WITH HIS EYES CLOSED!?" the bat counter-demanded as she sprung to her heels, her face almost as red as Knuckles' face.

"I WAS THINKIN' ABOUT STUFF!"

"YOU HAVE TO CLOSE YOUR EYES TO DO THAT!?"

"YES! I mean, NO! I mean...dt-SHUT UP!" Knuckles concluded, spinning around with his arms crossed.

Rouge huffed."_Hm, you kiss me and suddenly it's my fault..."_

"I SAID SHUT UP!" was the echidna's response.

The bat shook her head, allowing hersalf to wind down."Well, at least I found you; I haven't seen any of the others," Rouge said,"I was actually looking for you; I figured you might know where Sonic is or something..."

"Oh _why_, so you can steal his jewels?" Knuckles sneered accusingly.

"No, Romeo, so I we can regroup; we're not exactly in Kansas, ya know..."

Knuckles spun around again."I know we're not in Kansas! Duh! I'm not stupid..." he grumbled defensively, walking past the bat and resuming his trek, though this time with his eyes open (there's no way anybody's gonna kiss him without _him_ knowing it!).

Rouge shook her head; it was starting to feel like _deja vu. _She walked after him quickly."It's a figure of speech, as in we might actually be on another planet?"

"And what makes you think that?" Knuckles inquired.

"Oh, I dunno, the saber-toothed moose and people controlling the earth with their minds made me suspicious..." the bat retorted.

"Yeah, you might be on to somethin' there..." the echidna noted, recalling the mammoth-sized babboon he had to fight for a mango (totally worth it; that was some good mango...),"Doesn't matter, unlike _you,_ I have natural-born tracking skills that'll guide me away from any danger," Knuckles explained.

"Oh really?" Rouge queried skepticly.

_"_Yes _really,"_ Knuckles mocked.

"Then I guess I don't have to tell you about the enormous canyon right at the end of this forest," Rouge replied.

Knuckles scoffed."Nice try, but I think I'd know if I were headed for a canyon intead of just more forest..." he lamented confidently, his eyes closed, though as soon as he opened them, he had realized that he had not only cleared the forest, but he was also wide-eyed at the site before him: a gargantuous depression of bare earth stretching on for miles.

Knuckles was agust."A canyon!? It smelled so much like a bakery!-I mean...Hah! Just what I thought! It is a canyon! I was just, duh, testing you is all, heh..." he explained, rubbing the back of his head.

The bat whom had just flown over the canyon smirked."Of course you were; the next thing I suppose you're going to do is search for Dr. Eggman in the canyon, right?"

"Eggman's in the canyon!?" Knuckles wheeled around.

"Is he?" Rouge retorted, holding her hips patiently.

Knuckles faced the canyon and thought for a moment..."Uhhh...-Yes! I should go down there and-dr-take care of em'!" the echidna concluded, leaping off the edge and gliding down the canyon.

Rouge sighed, leaping and soaring after him. This was going to be funner than jewels...

* * *

The anthros were led down a corridor by the guard, leading them into a huge auditorium, packed with thousands of citizens, who were all clothed in some sort of sand-colored robes, aparently serving as cerimonial funeral atire. The center of attention was on the stone stage at the bottom, where there lie what looked like a fiarly large stone tub filled over the brim with countless pebbles. There was line of mournful citizens, each woefully walking up the stage to take a pebble out of one of the many barrels and tentetively place it onto the ever growing pile of pebbles in the tub.

"So...is he...in there?" inquired Amy sensitively, pointing weakly to the pile of pebbles.

A single tear made its journey down the guard's cheek."He was one hundred and fourteen this day; he witnessed the duration of the War since he was a boy, all the way through to the end," he recalled..."He dedicated every breath to the benefit of his city, making it one of the envys of the world; even when he intentionally surrendured to the Fire Nation, we all knew in a way it was so that none of his fellow people would be slowly worn to dust by a dragging battle; and in the end, he reclaimed the entire city single-handedly," he went on..."Vitually every person, child and elder alike, were born at some point into his reign," he snorted glibbly,"Most of us never thought it would end, as inevitable as it seemed..." he finished, closing his eyes in angst.

The three could feel the despair saturating the whole city.

"Man, the Uvatar's gonna be devistated when he finds out..." Silver added.

The guard sniffled_."It's pronounced 'Avatar'..."_

"Well, I guess we could pay our respects while we're here; we'll just...find some other way to contact Aang..." Tails considered.

They walked the steps and caught up with the line, the citizens too shellshocked by the passing of their beloved ruler to acknowlage the "spirits" walking along side them. First, Amy took a pebble and placed onto the pile, then Tails, then finally Silver had his turn; he sighed before praparing to place his..."Welp', at least you had a nice run, Bumi..." he gratified before lowering the pebble closer to the pile, when suddenly, a narled hand shot up from the pebbles, causing the gray hedgehog to nearly leap out of his fur as he fell on his duff, the audience gasping in suprise. A sickly moaning was heard as the pile of pebbles poured over the rim of the tub, a repulsive figure slowly rising out from the rocks that entombed it.

"It's _hideous!_" Amy cried, sheilding her eyes as if she were in an old monster movie.

The figure was fully erect in a sitting position, its moan actually an elongated yawn as King Bumi typicaly performed his morning stretch after waking up; he clicked his dry tongue for a moment."Somebody call my name?" he inquired to no one in particular, scratching his bare back like a chimpanzee. The king then took a moment to notice that he was not on the couch that he passed out on earlier today, but was now lying in a bunch pebbles while practically everyone in the city stared at the very man they thought was dead seconds before...

It was a deathly awkward moment...

As with any earthbender, he broke the silence he created..."Oh, don't tell me it happened again!" he fumed,"All of you, get out!" he commanded the people, shooing them away with his wrinkeled arms.

The massive gathering all groaned in exasperation as they simultaneously arose from their seats and made their way out of the auditorium.

"And as for you...!" he threw an accusatory glare at the guard,"How many times are we going to go through this before you people can tell the difference between a dead body and someone who's resting his eyes!?"

The guard was agust."B-But, y-Your Majesty! You were gone! The doctors s-said you had no pulse!"

The old king crossed his arms "Oh what, so now my _heart _isn't allowed to take a nap once and a while? Is it just some perpetually propelled muscle that's supposed to keep on beating forever without getting tired?" he scoffed.

"w-w-well, no, I mean, yes, but-"

"Tell you what," Bumi started,"Why don't you return to your post and let someone with a bit more _common_ _sense_ make the big-boy decisions, hm? And give those doctors their resignation letters on the way!" he commanded, flicking his hand at him.

"_...b-but...but-bt-but I-but..."_ the guard fumbled to himself, pacing mindlessly away.

King Bumi shook his head as he bent all the pebbels off of his person with a simple gesture, revealing the raggy under garments he was wearing, revolving his legs so as to get off the remaining earth an slide onto solid ground."You can't really hold it against them," he sighed, "they're not the brightest candles, but they mean well..." he lamented before clapping his aged hands together."So! What brings you three here to this fine city?"

It took a while for Tails to realize the king was talking to him and his friends."duh...d-Oh! Well, um, greetings, your Majesty, my name is Tails, these are my friends..." he gestured to them,"and seeing as how you're, erm, awake now, we would like to speak with you about a very important matter at hand..." the fox requested.

"Ah, I see, well, I suppose I can fit you in for lunch; come this way..." King Bumi replied, walking away and nudging for them to to follow.

When the elder was far enough, Amy popped an interesting question:_"Don't you think it's kind of wierd that he didn't freak out when he saw us?"_ the pink hedghog asked quietly.

_"Maybe the guy's just _that _off his rocker..."_ Silver speculated, leaning close to Amy.

"YOU CATCH ON QUICK!" the old man suddenly cried, pushing his cheek against the grey hedgehog's in the blink of an eye; he then continued his way, laughing a senile, snorty cackle.

The three could almost hear a creepy circus organ playing in the back of their heads...

* * *

The renegades were rounded up by the authorties; as soon as the violence had disssolved, the town's people cheered for their furry, blue savior.

Sonic was sitting atop a steel statue of Avatar Roku in the middle of the town square, basking in the praise.

"It's over. Thank you, Sun-nek, this battle would've costed us so much more if it weren't for you..." Kori thanked, looking up at him meaningfully.

"It'd be nothing compared to what I and your father could've lost, Kori..." the girl's mother added, resting her hand on her shoulder; they hugged.

Two officers ran up to them."Mrs. Morishita! Your husband is missing!" one them spouted.

The two turned towards them with suprised faces; Sonic also looked down at this information."Missing? Wasn't he right around here a couple o' minutes ago?" he inquired, kicking off the statue's shoulder and touch down seemlessly as usual.

"Have you searched for him?" the wife questioned.

"He was last seen around here, but we were too distracted by the fighting; the rebel's leader is gone too..." the second officer explaind.

"Oh no..." Kori understood,"He must've fled with Father as a hostage!" she announced tearfully; she started to sniffle.

Sonic walked over to her."Don't cry, Elise..." he soothed, placing his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I just-Wait, what did you call me-?"

"Nobody!" the hedgehog hastily replied as he retracted his hand, realizing what he had just said.

A breif, awkward glance at Sonic...

"There has to be some evidence of where they went; he couldn't just drag him along in broad daylight," the mayor's wife considered.

Sonic's shifting eyes caught sight of something suspiscious."Hey look! There's a pile of dirt right around where I jumped the leader!" he pointed to the pile just before the city hall, in attempt to take the focus off of him without anyone realizing it.

They huddled around the artificial pile.

"That scoundrel must of used his earthbending to tunnel underground. If only there were a way we could track him," the mayor's wife said.

Kori was thoughtful for a moment."...I think I know a way..." she started, pacing around the dirt pile,"I've been practicing a technique that allows an earthbender to sense vibrations though the ground; maybe if I try hard enough, I can find a path underground that will lead us to Father," she speculated.

"Well, it's worth a shot; give it a try," Sonic encouraged.

The novice earthbender closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she assumed an iron-horse stance, lifted one leg, and stomped her foot on the fround, waiting for the earth to respond to her...

Without opening her eyes or turning her head, she pointed westward."There's a distortion of earth trailing in that direction."

Sonic snapped his fingers."Alright then, I'll jet down that way and see what I can find! Don't you worry, Korri, I'll find your dad!" the hedgehog gave a thumbs up, got into a sprinter's postition and dashed down the street, speeding far out of the city limits.

* * *

"So, Mr. Prower," the fully dressed and adorned King Bumi began,"What do you think of my new table? I had it imported from Gaoling not too long ago..." he inquired to the fox who, with his friends, were sitting on the other end of a long, long, really long dinner table that was so unforgivably long that it was a wonder how the old king could even see him from that far away.

_"What?"_ the blur of a fox asked.

_"I said! how do you like the new table!? Do you think it's a bit too ostentascious!?" _the king repeated, also a blur to Tails.

"Um, well, I think it's nice! kinda' long, though..." Tails mumbled the last part.

_"What!?"_ Bumi responded, unable to hear the last part.

"Um! Well, what I meant was uh...!" Tails fumbled."I was hoping I could ask you a few things!"

"Well, what a coincidence! I like to bask in the new things as well! That's one of the reasons I bought this new table!" Bumi missheard.

"Wha-n-no! I mean, I heard you had a connection to Avatar Aang!" Tails yelled.

"Oh, I see! You wish to complement my cheif-of-heir Zang! He does have some very good chicken recipies! Never uses the skin though...!"

"No! Not cheif-of-heir Zang! AVATAR AANG!"

"Well, I suppose Commodore Peng has some good cooking pointers as well! But I think he left for the weekend!"

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF...!" Silver interjected, using his telekenesis to lift himself, his friends, and their plates and carried them all the way to the other end of the table, setting them into different seats as if they were already sitting there from the beginning,"So, as you were saying about the Evatar, your Majasty..." he reminded, resting his chin on his palm with a mock intellectual posture

The king was predictibly confused for a second."...Oh you mean the _Avatar_?" he finally realized,"Yes, the Avatar and I go way back; why I remember that time we were just a pair of boys riding the city's delivery system all the way down; crashed right into a cabbage cart, ho!" he recalled, as any elderly gentlemen would.

"Um, Sire, that was just last year," the guard behind him pointed out.

"It was?" Bumi perked up.

"I think we're trailing off-subject, your highness," Amy said,"Do you know where the Avatar might be right now?"

The king squeezed his long chin,"_Weeell_, the last I heard from him was when he sent me a letter saying that he was participating in a tour across the Earth Kingdom promoting world harmony and such; he's probably through with it now, though, and returned to the Fire Nation - he's friends with the new Fire Lord, you see..."

"Well that's great," Tails beamed, looking among his friends,"All we have to do now is keep heading west until we get to the Fire Nation."

Silver finished his last bite of roast chicken,"Welp', I'm set to go, unless his majesty would like to reflect on his college years..." he joked.

His majesty grinned,"Why, aren't you the inquisitive one! Since you're so curious, I suppose I can spare the afternoon to tell you! Now let's see: I was enrolled in Omashu University; I wasn't the most popular earthbender on the block, of course this was prior to the discovery of my royal bloodline - that's where things got really exciting..."

The anthros and guards groaned loudly as the old king rambled on...

* * *

It was getting later in the day; half of the sky was brighter than the other.

Gow hauled the struggling mayor by his legs they were nearing the edge of a high cliff that faced the Western ocean.

"Grr! You won't get away with this!" Morishita growled, his wrists tied together,"There's no way you can out-run the Blue Spirit!"

"In case you havn't noticed, Tubby..." Gow began,"I've _already_ out-run that rat! So just be glad It's you and not your little princess..."

They reached the precipis; the enraged leader let go of the mayor's legs, walked around his body, grabbed the back of his collar, and lifted him off of his feet

"Hey, you!" announced a voive behind the two; Gow snapped back to see Sonic just now schreeching to a hault - they stared down...

"You don't learn your lessons the easy way, do you?" Sonic began.

"The only lesson I've learned is how small the world can be," Gow replied,"You elites are all the same; you bask in the glory of a so-called victory and absorb the praise you didn't even earn! You front like you're so noble and note-worthy, but were you out on the field? Did you watch your friends and family get cut down before your eyes? Most of us are lucky if we can never walk again! I gave this war my all, all in the name of you people, in the name of peace; but did I get peace? No. Just a bunch of paper work and technicalities!"

As the earthbender ranted, unknown to the three, a myterious blue light appeared out of the horizon and snaked along the surface of the water.

The hedgehog snorted."Like you actually care about peace; I may've not seen war like you," the Black Arms could have testified against that statement,"but I can tell with one look you havn't given anthing! You're no warrior, you're just another bully!" he threw his finger at him."All you do is take advantage of a problem and push around everyone who can't fend for themselves!"

The light merged into the earth, turning green once again as it climbed up the stone cliff.

Sonic went on."If you really were concerned about the people around you, or about this War that happened, you'd try to find a way to rebuild instead of starting a revolution that only _you_ can profit from! Tell me I'm wrong."

"It doesn't matter," Gow concluded, the light looming forty feet below,"Once word about the raids gets to ol' Scarface and Arrowhead..."

_'Arrowhead'? Why does that sound familiar?_

"...they'll _have_ to do somthing, 'cause if they don't, the world will see them for the cowards they are..." Gow turned to face the sea, tightening his grip on the shrivling mayor's collar "...And if _that_ doesn't faze them, well, you never know, maybe what's left of this guy'll flow right into the capitol's coastline; I'd like to see what optimistic input they'll have on...what the...?" the earthbender paused, his gaze dipping down the egde of the cliff.

"What the what?" Sonic waited; suddenly, the hedgehog noticed the green beam of light emerging from over the edge that Gow and Morishita were mystified at.

Out of nowhere, Gow jerked away from the edge, dropping the mayor as the ground seemed to be covered with a veil of transparent light that almost appeard to be part of it, accompanied by a strange high-pitched ringing sound; the light covered more and more of the terrain by the second.

"What is this!? What're you doing!?" the leader demanded of the hedgehog.

"Hey, don't look at me, man, I'm not even a spirit!" Sonic reminded.

The light traveled further along the ground, but as it moved, to their surprise, it began to narrow and concentrate, its path directed towards Gow.

"...no...s-Get away! Stay away from me!" the earthbender cried, attempting to block its path with a two-foot wall of earth, which it not only crawled over but went through it like water saturating an elevated tarp.

The mayor scrurried behind Sonic."What's happening?"

"_I_ don't know!" the hedgehog repeated.

As Gow backed away, the illumination suddenly zipped forward, the earthbender gaining a new sense of horror as the light covered his own left foot; he tried to pull away, but his foot refused to so much as twitch.

"NO! HELP ME!" the earthbender whaled, reaching out to Sonic.

The mayor was breifly compelled to assist him.

"Don't touch it!" Sonic stopped him.

The light had soon enveloped the earthbenders leg; his other leg was covered as well. It crawled up his mid section, making the earthbender's body resemble a glowing green statue as it continued up his chest and back, as well as his arms. The leader's eyes and mouth released beams of light before his head was finally consumed.

The light intensified, the ringing grew louder, the ground began to shake as the two had to sheild their eyes from the blinding brightness. They looked up just time to see a huge colomn of green energy fire directly into the sky, causing the clouds to part as it seemed to go on for ever.

* * *

Kori stood from the top of the wall that guarded the city, seeing a bright beam of green light shoot up through the clouds in the distance; this natrally worried her, as that was the direction she had pointed Soinc to.

* * *

"_ggruhhh..._That's why we where sun glasses where I'm from..." Sonic lamented as the brightness vaninshed; however, the blue hedgehog soon found out that not only was the blinding light gone, so was the green light

in general. All that was left was the motionless body of the rebel leader, sprawled on the ground.

The hedgehog slowly made his way toward him to check for a pulse. Suddenly, the area began to shake again, with an aggresiveness that made Sonic wobble around along with the mayor.

"Oh, terrific, what nowWHOAH-!" Sonic yelped as a tall stone spike jutted out from where he was about to stumble, having hopped away just it time. "What kinda'..." he was interrupted by another spike that alomst got him, dodging once again. Sonic then had to evade four more spikes that shot up from the earth.

The spikes then spat out a series of small but lethely sharp projectiles that Sonic dodged through a swift break-dancing motion. The hedgehog lept back one more time before two stone slabs smash into eachother.

"Ugh, okay, evil light-dude, time to show me your weak-spot so I can hit you..." the hedgehog said nervously, unacustomed to attacks that weren't telegraphed.

As if in response, the earth he stood on crackled, forming a circle of floating dust right before it shot upward like a spring board, at such a velocity that sent Sonic soaring through the sky over back into the forestry he ran out of minutes before.

As the ground continued to quake, the Mayor Morishita heard a groan coming from behind; he turned to see Gow slowly pushing himself up to one knee."Where do ya think you're goin', you pmopous, fat..." the leader motioned to grip one of the spikes with his bending and throw it at the mayor; but strangely, the only thing that happened was that the rebel toppled to the dirt out of weakness - the stone didn't even budge.

"What...What did it do to you?" the mayor wondered.

* * *

**I bet you thought I was talking about **_**Sonic **_**when I said "His World", huh?**

**Deadpool: I find it rather strange you cut off the chapter so...abruptly...**

**Well, It's not like anything exciting happens on a cliff, so...o_o...don't do it...**

**Deadpool: Don't do what? I was just saying how strange it is that you ended the chapter at such an unforseen juncture...**

**Star Fox: Seriously, man, stop while you can...**

**Deadpool: I mean, you just halted it right in the middle of an important event, as if to leave the readers hanging with suspense...**

**Cole McGrath: Dude, I will deliver a charge into your skull with so much amperage, you will literally become a pile of ash...**

**Deadpool: You might say, that you ended this chapter with a cliff-hang-!**

***Grimlock's head crashes through the ceiling and eats Deadpool***

**Me/Star Fox/Cole:O_O!?... **

**Grimlock: What? Me Grimlock hate puns! Me also have excellent hearing...**

**Me/Star Fox/Cole: -_-'...**

**Grimlock: Please review! OR GRIMLOCK EAT YOU! **


	18. BOSS BATTLE

"Gaw man! We've been walking through this canyon all day! Rouge! I thought you said Eggman was down here!" Knuckles complained to the bat as they continued their "quest".

"For your information, it was _you _who assumed that he was down here, and whining like a five-year-old isn't going to enhance those chances; so maybe you could give my ears a break in the meantime..." Rouge responded, massaging her large ears.

"Well maybe if your so tired of being around me, you could give my _nerves_ a break by flying off!"

The bat sighed in her feminine way."My wings are exausted from flying around so much already! I mean really, I've been criss-crossing my way up and down and all around this continent; I'd say for the shortage of makeup and beauty-sleep and jewels I've done a pretty good job; the least a brick wall like you could do is give me some company..." she pounted.

At this, the echidna spun around in irritation."Oh, you just expect the _whole world_ the move for you, don't ya!? Weeell, let me tell you somethin', bat-girl..."

It was at that very second that the entire area began to violently shake, causing the two to stumble to and fro; birds scattered, stones were rent from their walls, and trees wobbled around like crazy.

By the time the ground had settled, Knuckles lied flat on his furry back, with his arm resting across the back of Rouge, who was lying on his chest - they realized this, shrinking apart from each other once more.

"WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT!?" the echidna fumed, even more red-faced then before.

"I'm not 'doing' anything!" the bat said, just as red and half as ashamed."Tch, as if we're not alone..." her ears perked up, instantly wiping away all previous sensations,"We're not alone..."

The echidna was about to query, when suddenly his acute nose smelled trouble.

Not a moment later did the various holes in the canyon walls pour out dozens upon dozens of enormous spider-like monstrocities with gaping crocodile-like jaws, apparently stirred from the earthquake, that in under twenty second's time had completely surrounded the two from all directions; they all looked awfully hungry.

The two anthros were frozen in tension...

"...I blame you..." Knuckles quietly muttered to Rouge.

* * *

_**ANTI-Earth**_

While Sonic had been falling for an arguably long amount of time, it did little to help the hedgehog collect his thoughts; it did, however, give him enough air time to look down at the point among the trees where he would presumably land, right where one more rock spike shot out of the ground, prompting Sonic to use his homing attack to dash forth away from the spike, using the momentum to speed further on foot, a huge mound of earth barreling after the hedgehog, uprooting trees and tearing away all other forestry.

Sonic darted out of the forest, traversing a barren plain of dirt. The earth still quaking, a series of pillars burst upward, forcing Sonic to shimie left and right repeatedly. As soon as he cleared the pillars, Sonic realized he was being persued by a trio a stone buzz razors; as they were nearing his heels, Sonic jumped behind them as they sped far forward. The middle razor slowed down, making Sonic bank to the left; the left razor slowed down, and before Sonic could mave further left, an incoming pillar obstructed that direction, the hedgehog forced to hop to the right of the middle razor; as expected, the right razor decreased its speed, and with a mirrored trap set up, the hedgehog used his spin-dash to curve into a sharp right turn, loosing the razors and veering into a deep trench.

It turned out that running into the trench-thing wasn't such good idea, as then stone columns began popping out from the walls, causing the hedgehog to rapidly jump over and slide under them; it wasn't long before the two massive walls started to inch closer to eachother, the gap in the earth thinning more and more. Sonic quickly turned on the boost, blasting out of the trench that no longer existed.

Sonic found himself running along the cliffside of a steep mountain wall - apparently, it was only the right wall that was moving. That didn't matter, though, as a section of the cliffside in front inconveniently gave way, forcing Sonic to run along the wall itself. Out of nowhere, two huge spherical boulders flanked the hedgehog; Sonic had to boost forward to avoid being sandwiched between the boulders, and backwards when they tried it again. The boulders dissappeared, and the portion of the wall Sonic was running on began to crumble into a landslide, and Sonic lost all footing, until the hedgehog skillfully dashed onto a falling rock and kick of it, flying onto another one, and another, and another.

_Man, where's all of this coming from!?_

* * *

A canyon crawler flew back into its hive from a punch delivered by Knuckles; one creature lunged at the echidna, who lept over it and pounded it to the ground with his other fists; another jumped at him, but he countered the third one with a Mario-styled uppercut; he slid under one more incoming crawler, and rapidly jabbed it its cephalothorax (as if the echidna knew what that was...); with the crawler stunned, Knuckles heaved it off its hairy legs with one arm (he was still holding you-know-who's boomerang in the other) and threw it into another creature; it was then that the echidna had a sudden revelation...

"Rouge!? Why aren't you helping me!?" Knuckles demanded of the bat, who was on a tall stone column safely suspended from the canyon crawlers, reclining atop a flat rock which bent under her head like a beach chair.

"I already told you, I'm tired," she replied with her eyes shut.

Knuckles jumped over two crawlers that rammed into one another."You said your _wings_ were tired! You could still fight with your feet, ya know!" he reminded as he held back the drooling jaws of another crawler.

"mmmNo, sorry, my legs are tired from all that walking; you know, while we were 'looking' for Eggman?"

"Then how come you never complained about it before!?" the echidna inquired before using the creature like an over-sized club to batter away another creature.

"Well, I just didn't want to bother you about it earlier; you seem to have so much on your plate. Besides, it wouldn't kill you to be chivelras once and a while..." she flicked her hand.

"_yeah, I'll give ya 'chivelras', ya long-eared..._" the echidna grumbled before even more crawlers gushed out of the walls.

Rouge open one eye to see three crawlers swarming her; she lept off her seat in fear, landing near Knuckles."Time to run!" she announced before darting away.

"Stupid spiders!" Knuckles growled, picking up the boomerang and following Rouge.

The two sped across the depression, with the ocean of canyon crawlers not even remotely detured. They soon made to the other side of the canyon, a hundred-foot wall separating them from safety; they inevitably had their back to the stone. as the relentless arachnids steadily cleared the distance.

"I guess will have to fight em' here!" Knuckles said.

"Good luck with that..." Rouge replied, spreading her wings and up the wall.

Knuckles snapped up in shock."I THOUGHT YOUR WINGS WERE TIRED!?"

"They recover quick!" the bat explained, soaring over the edge and away from Knuckles; she smirked, partially out of slyness and partially wondering how long it would take for Knuckles to remember that he was an expert climber...

The echidna turned back to his doom, his fists trembling..."uh, Okay, I can do this, just gotta go all out, pull no punches, show no fear, let loose my inner animal...!" he paused, dropping his fear,"...What do echidnas _do_, anyway?" he contemplated...

The canyon crawlers were not in a mood to wait for their dinner...

Knuckles straightened up, faced the wall, and instinctively dug straight through the stone, a pouncing canyon crawler getting its snout stuck in the hole.

* * *

Sonic put the sneakers to the dirt through the ravine as his was intercepted by a gargantuous spiked boulder.

"This is ridiculous!" Sonic cried aloud in frustration,"How am I supposed to fight an enemy that's not even there!?"

Sonic truly had nowhere to run; he quickly discerned that this thing that was chasing him not only controlled but _was_ that ground. The hedgehog had breifly considered running out into the ocean, untill he remembered that was how it got here in the first place.

It was pointless, Sonic had no way of harming it; and unless this rock spirit-thing was just try to sell Sonic some cookies, all appeared hopless...

...Hopeless that is, untill a little something caught the azure hedgehog's eyes...

_No. Way._

About two hundred feet in front, literally just lying right there before the dead end of the ravine was the yellow Chaos Emerald!

At his velocity, Sonic had no time to calculate the likelyhood of this scenario, he just dashed and grabbed the emerald. But before he could run up the cliff, an opening was spawned right through the earth wall, diverting the hedgehog inside of it.

The hedgehog then found him self going through a cleanly carved tunnel that seemed to go on forever, lined with a familiar dim green light in the dark. Sonic realized that the boulder the chased him had now morphed into a huge spiralling drill encommpassing the diameter of the tunnel. The format of the tunnel felt to Sonic like it was gradually angling upwards, untill he was running up comepletely vertical.

Sonic was getting sick of this episode, and decided to beat this rock-monster to the punch, rocketing to top speed and using his Chaos Emerald-embedded fist to blast through the surface, bolting up into the sky like Superman.

The drill followed the hedgehog even then, shape-shifting into a gigantic hand still trying to reach for him.

"I bet you think I'm gonna Chaos Control on outta here!? THINK AGAIN, ROCKY!" Sonic exclaimed, curling into a ball and gathering the emerald's energy with his spinning. Sonic blasted straight down as a glowing yellow sphere with so much power, you'd think he went Super; he evisorated through the stone arm and continued further, hitting the ground and making the vicinity scream with a shockwave of chaotic energy...

By the time it was over, the earthquake had totally subsided, with Sonic kneeling at the epicenter of a wide crater, and no sign of entity.

"eh, I'd give it a _**B**_..." the hedgehog settled, dusting himself off. Sonic then heard the padding of feet; he turned back up to see Mayor Morishita stopping at the edge of the crater.

"Did you vanquish it?" he asked.

"mmYeah, pretty much I'd..." Sonic stopped,"...Okay, hold up, please tell me I back-tracked somewhere during that chase, 'cause there's _no way_ you could've got here before I did."

The mayor crossed his arms."Hey, you're not the only one who's faster than he looks..." he remarked.

Sonic raised an eyebrow.

* * *

The grey hedgehog, pink hedgehog, fox, and elder king paced out into the balcony facing the entrance of the city.

"Man, anybody else feel that tremor?" asked Silver.

"Kinda'..." said Amy.

"A little one..." Tails replied.

"Dreadful things..." Bumi added.

"Well, I guess this is all we need," Tails began, his arm wrapped around a sleeping bag full of supplies offered by the king,"now we can go to the Fire Nation and see if the Avatar can help us get home..."

"Yeah," Amy said lethargicly,"and then I'll be reunited with by fiance` once more!"

Even Tails had too roll his eyes at that one.

"Did you ever think you should hook up with some other blue hedgehog that _can't_ ditch you in the blink of an eye?" Silver inquired.

"_That's what makes him iressistable..."_ the she-hedgehog fantasized.

"Ah, I remember _my_ first blue hedgehog..." the old Earth King babbled fruitlessly,"we had an ostrichhorse race, an eating contest, arm wrestled, and then he just left, and I never saw him again..." he sighed,"...feels like it was only a few days ago..."

"I was only a few days ago, Sire..." the guard reminded.

"Sonic was here!?" Tails exclaimed, jumping onto the stunned guard and grabbing him by his shoulders.

"Oh yes! That was his name!" Bumi recalled,"I believe his still wandering around the Earth Kingdom; I probably should've given him a map or something of that nature..." he added in hignsight.

"I don't believe it: Sonic made it to this universe!" Silver declared.

"Do you know what this means?" Tails started, dropping from the guard,"If Sonic's here, then so is everyone else! Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, the Chaotix, and..." he stopped.

"...and Eggman too..." the grey hedgehog finished.

"Oh man, this changes everything..." the fox realized,"We could still go to the Avatar, but what if we can't find Sonic? I dunno..." Tails raised a flexed finger to his lips.

"Well, obviously we should look for my Soni-pu," Amy resolved.

"Then you guys should go find him," Silver interjected.

"Huh?" said Amy.

"Wait, you mean you wanna split up?" Tails asked.

"Look, things are bigger than we thought they were. If Eggman is here, it means he still has the ARK; you two need to find the others and regroup while I go contact the Leotard."

The two squinted one eye at the grey hedgehog...

"...Ok, I'll admit, that last one was deliberate, but we're gonna need all the power we can get if we're gonna stop Eggman."

Tails resumed his thinking pose."Well, you are the faster flyer, and we gotta find Sonic..." he tapped his chin,"I guess we have no choice; I hope you have a safe trip, Silver..."

"Don't worry; at my speed, it won't even _be_ a trip," Silver smirked.

Amy giggled."Now you're just trying to sound like Sonic..."

"Okay, I guess we're off; hold on, Amy!" Tails announced, grabbing the pink hedgehog's hand and the sleeping bags in the other.

With that, Tails twirled his signature appendages and took off for the east; Amy waved Silver a goodbye with her free hand.

Silver waved back, powered up, and soared away into the sunset.

While Bumi watched, his eyes suddenly fixated on the black blade Silver was carrying..."Wait a minute...that sword! WAIT! SILVER ONE, COME BACK!" he called waving his arms.

Silver stopped, and floated back to Bumi."What is it!?"

The old king took a small sack out of his robes. "Take this with you!" he threw it to Silver, who caught it with his mind.

"What's this for!?"

"They're sunflower seeds! For Momo, the Avatar's pet lemur! He really likes them!" the king explained.

"ugh...okay..." the hedgehog mumbled before shooting off once more, on his way to contact the Avatar.

* * *

Kori looked to and fro from the look-out, trying to see anything; her attention snapped to a singular figure walking to the gate; she recognized it as her father. She jumped off the look-out in exictement and softened her landing with earthbending. The two ran for eachother and hugged fiercely, tears seeking freedom from their eye-lids. The girl opened her eyes just once, and managed to see Sonic The Hedgehog, luminated by the orange sunset hue, on the edge of a plateau, smiling and resting his fist on his hip. The hedgehog winked, and sped off into the horizon.

Kori smiled, and tightened her hug.

* * *

As Sonic lied on his self-crafted hammock that night, staring up at the half-moon, he wondered where he was exactly; the hedgehog couldn't tell whether he was back in time, on a different planet, or a whole other universe like Metal said.

One thing was certian, though: Eggman was here, and this world was a sitting duck if he didn't do something. Speaking of which, how'd this Chaos Emerald get down here? If Sonic recalled, the egghead stole'em all at once, and used their power to get to this new world, this new universe...

Did somebody stop him? Was it that "Avatar" he heard about? And what was up with that glowie thing, was that him trying to attack me? Is he that powerfull? And what was up with that vision of that kid he saw a week ago?

Sonic wasn't used to thinking this much; maybe he should pay this guy a visit tomorrow, see what he has to say about all this rebel stuff...

And he drifted off into sleep...

...An ominous mist permeated the forest; two rows of bamboo grew from the ground as a large panda bear appeared out of nowhere. The animal lumbered over to the sleeping Sonic, sniffing him breifly; the panda then carefully navigated its body under the hammock, which automaticly untwined so that Sonic lied atop the panda's back. The panda slowly paced into the nearby river, and swam with the current.

The panda eventually swam out into the ocean, carrying the hedgehog off to an island that wasn't there before...

* * *

**And that's that for that.**

**Deadpool: Oh yeah, four chapters per year, you are truly Olympic material.**

**Ya know, I spent entire MONTH trying to fish your mutant butt out of Grimlock; do you honestly wanna go back in?**

**Deadpool: Not particularly, but I am kind of insulted it took over a _month_ just to do that...**

**It wasn't as easy as it sounds: first I had to find him, then I had to _catch _him_, then _I had to get'em to stand still for fifteen goshdarn minutes...and when that didn't work, I just tricked him into eating Toph.**

**Toph: And that's what I was doing during this chapter.**

**Deadpool: Yeah, I knew that, I was there *clapps hands together* so, seeing as how the next season of _The Legend of Korra _will have air by the time you post the next chapter, ya mind giving us a little peak at what you have planned?**

**I'll tell you this much, it's gonna be one of _those_ stories...**

**Deadpool: That could literrally mean anything...**

**Too bad, it's all ya get...**

**Every review goes to fixing Grimlock's insides**

**Grimlock: _Me Grimlock tummy hurt..._ **


	19. The Hedgehog in the Iceberg

**Like I said: One o' **_**THOSE **_**stories...**

* * *

**Book Five**

**Emerald**

**Chapter two**

**The Hedgehog in the Iceberg**

* * *

A familiar scene plays out before your eyes: Two teenagers in heavy blue tribal coats are sitting beside eachother, stranded atop a flat, round iceberg in the middle of the antarctic sea, surrounded by taller icebergs.

"You call that left?" the younger-looking girl inquiried her older brother.

"You don't like my steering; well, mabye you should of _waterbended _us out of the ice..." the boy replied, waving his arms around for effect.

"So it's _my_ fault?" the girl asked as she rose to her feet.

"I knew I should've left you home..." the boy sneered, still sitting down, not facing his sister "...leave to a girl to screw things up..."

It was this comment that seemed to deeply agitate said girl, her eyebrows twitching."You are the most _sexist, immature, nut-brained..._er-I'm embarssed to to be related to you!" she cried, swinging her arms downward with every word; strangly enough, the water seemed to follow her movements, wave after wave rippling without her knowledge; out of nowhere, a crack sped up and around the left side of the large iceberg behind her.

The boy gasped mentally, noticing all of this.

"Ever since Mom died, I've been doing _all_ the work around here while _you've_ been soldier...!" she continued to thrash her arms, resulting in second crack in the same area.

"umm...Katara...?" the boy attempted nervously, pointing behind her...

"...I even wash all the clothes!" she persisted."Have you ever _smelled_ your dirty socks? Let me tell you: Not. Pleasant!" she spread her arms back apart, sending to addtional cracks up the iceberg; it was clear that the block couldn't take much more...

"Katara, settle down-!" the boy tried once more in a bid to save his life.

"No! That's it, I'm _done _helping you! From now on, you're on your OWN!" she concluded, swiping the air one last time. Though that last time was all that ws needed for a fourth burst of cracks to envelope that mass of ice. Katara turned just in time to see the iceberg splitting down the middle, collapsing into pieces and making a big wave shove the the circulur platform the children were standing on fifty feet away. By the time the naturally-formed platform slowed down, the two were on their stomachs, their heavily clothed arms corresing the edge of the ice platform.

"Okay, you've gone from 'weird', to _'freakish'_, Katara!" the teen promoted her sister.

Katara blinked. "You mean _I _did that?"

"Yep, congratulations..." he replied before an ominous blue glow arrose from beneath the surface. The two froze, and then lept back right before, an enormous sphere of ice burst out of the depths, bobbing up and down before leveling out and floated smoothly on the disturbed water.

The teens stood there, stupafied, when the girl thought she saw something in the center of the sphere: it looked like the sillaouette of a small, furry animal, curled into a ball, she raised an eyebrow, questioning her ability to see; suddenly, the animal's large eyes shot open, releasing an even more intense pool of light. The pair wobbled back at this in shock.

"It's alive! We have to help!" the girl realized. diving into her brother's scabbard for his bone club.

"Katara, get back here!" the boy called back for her sister as she lepted off the ice, bouncing from one small shard of ice to another,"We don't know what that thing is!" he tried, bouncing after her.

The girl stopped on the excess ice surrounding the glowing sphere. She pulled back the club, and gave a good swing against the ice, then another, then another, then another, then one last hard one, a powerfull gust of air spewing out of the hole, forcing the girl back into her brother's arms.

The shock seem to spread up to the crown of the orb, and a massive blast of blue energy rocketed into the sky, the atmosephere humming with light of the purest of azure that could be seen for hundreds of miles, which after a little while, dissapated into rich streams of aroara.

As the mist licked passed their fur coats, the two teens opened their eyes, Katara broke away from her brother, climbing up what was left of the destroyed orb. "Katara...!" the boy reasoned in futility, resigning to follow her.

They slid down into the edge of a deep crater, with the previous creature from before at the center - a three foot, three and a quarter-inch rodent-like animal with strong blue fur - a blue even stronger than their own garments - a rather twig-like body, long quills almost rivaling its own height, a huge, round head with a small black nose that stuck out, perfectly triangular ears, and...a pair of white gloves and red shoes...it was still unconscous.

The two teens stood in wonder.

"...whoah..." the boy breathed..."...That's a pretty big arctic rat..."

Suddenly the creature groaned and stirred."_grhr...I need...to tell you something..." _it wispered.

The two wheeled toward eachother.

"Did it just _talk!?_" the boy vocalized.

"Maybe it's a spirit..." the girl considered.

"...Or, possessed by one..." the teen thought was more likely; they turned back to it."What do you need to tell us?"

Its eyes were still shut._"closer..."_

The teen boy inched forward...

_"cl...clo-seerr..." _the rodent repeated.

The boy knelt down close to the creature; his face was mere foot and a half fom the creature's face...close enough for the animal to flick the boy's nose with his human-like finger; the teen balked away, feeling his nose.

_"I'm not a rat..."_ Sonic answered quietly.

The boy stumbled."th-Then what are you!?"

A sly grin crept along the side of the anthro's face; he flipped on his hands and launched himself high into the air, over the teen's stunned heads, and tounch down on the ledge encircling the crater, raising a thumbs-up for all to see as he announced:" I'm SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" his teeth made a sparkly _ding_ sound...

The two blinked twice, comepletely silent...

"I know, you're all paralyzed by my awsomeness..." Sonic continued, taking the awkard silence the wrong way,"So, what's your names?"

Sokka could only blink another two times in response..."Okay three things: How can you talk, how did you get out here, and why were you frozen?"

"Well you tell me, man!" the hedgehog replied, shivering and clutching his sides,"It's so cold out here, I might as well be in the south...!" he stopped, realizing the type of bioshere he had awoken within,"...pole..."

The girl stamered for a bit,"um, Hello, my name is Katara; this is my brother Sokka..." she lazily gestured, trying her best to be friendly despite the circumstances.

" 'Sokka and Katara', think I've heard those names before somewhere..." Sonic remarked in a conversational manner, sliding back down to their level."So, you guys live out here or what?" Sonic asked, right before an acusing spear was directed an inch from his suprised face.

"Don't answer that!" Sokka commanded her sister,"For all we know, this thing could be a demon!"

His suprise dropped, Sonic diverted the tip of Sokka's spear with his finger."I just told you, I'm a hedgehog..."

The teen paused, trying think of a comeback."...Well maybe you're a hedgehog demon!" Sokka concluded, flinging his finger at the "demon"

At this, Katara propped her hands on her hips."I thought you didn't believe in demons..." she reminded.

Sokka was now at a loss for words."Well I don't know! Giant light-beams? Flying hedgehogs? I feel like I'm dreaming as it is!" he defended himself, throwing his spear to the snow."That's it, I got midnight-madness; I'm going home where stuff makes sense..." the teen resoluted, walking away, until he realized that he could not simply do that, seeing as how they were all stuck out in sea.

"Well, I guess I could help you guys get home, as a thank-you for freeing me and all..." Sonic offered.

"And what're you do gonna do? Carry us on your back?" Sokka turned quizzicly."We'd get stuck by your...thorn thingys..." he added, wiggleing his fingers.

"Sokka, they're not thorns, they're _quills_," Katara corrected as the hedgehog fingered his chin...

"You got any rope?" Sonic checked.

The teen cocked an eyebrow; he fished within his coat and produce a long rope. "Hand-twined..." Sokka smirked.

"Yeah, by _Gran Gran..._" Katara countered, forcing her brother to stumble back.

The hedgehog shrugged contentfully."Good enough for me!" Sonic took the rope and looked around; he spotted a small disk of ice sitting on the water at the edge of the ice berg; it was wide and thick enough for two people to stand on. "Perfect, this'll make a great boogie-board..."

" 'Boogie-board'?" Sokka repeated.

The hedgehog then sped to the teen, quickly tieing one end around Sokka's waist, the other end around Katara's waist, and spun his body until the middle was twisted around his own waist. "You two ever go jet-skiing?" Sonic asked, jerking his thumb to the pad of ice.

Sokka's gaze shift from the rope tied around himself, then to Sonic, then to the rope tied around his sister, back to Sonic, to the ice circle, and back to Sonic; the puzzle was coming together, and he didn't like it..."Oh no, uh-uh, nope, there's _no way_ I'm gonna be ferried across a sea full of sharp, unstable icebergs by some little blue monster!" he concluded, crossing his arms and looking in another direction, even though his eyes were closed.

"Are you hoping some other monster will give you a ride home?" Katara retorted, walking onto the ice pad,"You know, before you freeze to death?" she cross her own arms.

The teen's finger jutted upwards as if he were going to explain why it was a bad idea, but it drooped as he sighed realizing there was no other option.

Several seconds later, Sokka was half-heartedly next to his sister, his arm wrapped around her and his other hand gripped his rope.

Sonic stretched his legs, prepping himself."OK! First-time passengers, hold on tight!"

"I didn't even know hedgehogs could swim..." Katara lamented giddily.

"Yeah, but not me, I hate the water..." the aquaphobic hedgehog announced, still in an upbeat tone.

The young warrior's eyes widened."Then how're you gonna get us home!?"

Sonic smirked.

_He dunno me vewy well, do he?_

"Let's GO!" the hedgehog cried, taking a step back and dashing out onto the water; in the blink of an eye, the teen's ropes tugged straight, and Sokka instinctively thew his and Katara's weight backwards so that they would not fly off of the ice pad but instead it slid with them against the surface, sending water soaring behind them. The two let out a scream as the hedgehog towed them onward at speeds yet inconceivable to them.

* * *

***sigh* Okay, look, normally I wouldn't do this, but I'm tired of holding you guys in suspense for so long; and since anyone who's seen the first episode of ATLA should probably know what's happening here, I've decided to just give you a summary of...**

**Deadpool: Gasp! Don't tell you're goin' all Distorted Reality on us!**

**Heck no! I'm not giving away the whole story (not even I'm sure how it's going to end), I'm just posting a condensed version of this chapter so I can move on; I'll probably fully appropriate it some other time. So, here's what happens...**

***ahem***

**Sonic takes Sokka and Katara through a fun-filled, montage-like homage to Cool Edge from Sonic Unleashed, eventually ending up right in front of the old ship that Aang came across during his penguin sledding race. Sokka is trying to keep his breakfest while Katara is marveling Sonic, stunned that he took them all the way through a day's journey under a few minutes. Sokka decides to go back to the tribe while Sonic and Katara, under Sokka's nose, search the remains of the ship. It is here that Katara reveals to Sonic that she is the only waterbender in the south pole, and Sonic promises Katara that'll he'll take her up to the north pole himself to be trained, when - of course - Sonic boobees right into the same boobee trap that Aang trips over, giving away his location to Zuko.**

**Sonic carries Katara back to her tribe, and - after Gran Gran contemplates cooking Sonic - Sokka predictibly accuses Sonic of being a spy for the Fire Nation, his evidence being Sonic's red shoes, and is promptly kicked out of the village, only for Zuko to barghe into the tribe ahead of schedule and be his classic angry jerky self, when out of nowhere, Sonic runs back to the village, hid momentum causing Zuko to cartoonishly spin around like a spinning top, drilling halfway into the snow; naturally, Zuko is shocked, and assumes that the Avatar has reincarnated into animals to evade capture fot so long. Zuko shoots some fire, and Sonic, like Aang, agrees to come quietly if it means Zuko won't hurt the villagers, and they leave.**

**Zuko decides to take away Sonic shoes for a souvenir for his dad, and Sonic is escorted to the brig or where ever; Sonic breaks free, and runs around the ship looking for his shoes; by the time he finds them , he is locked in a room with Zuko just like Aang. Sonic then breaks the fourth wall by turning to you and asking "Is he serious?",which would have been a reference to an old line of Sonic's from The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. They fight a little, and Sonic pokes Zuko in the butt with his quills, and Zuko yelps in pain as Sonic flees' eventually, they both fall out (much harder than with Aang due to the lack of a glider...), and Sonic is surrounded by firebenders; suddenly, a grappling hook flys up form the edge of the left sideof the ship (not really sure if the that's the port of the starbard), and Sokka and Katara climbs onto the boat. Sonic is touched by their effort to save him, and pays the bewildered soldiers no mind as he walks the the dge of the ship; but before Sonic can climb off, Zuko gets back up and angrily calls Sonic a filthy rat; Sonic freezes in mid-step, and turns his head slightly, just enough to reveal his unhappy eyes...**

**Iroh has the feeling his nehpew just hit a nerve...**

**Sonic dashes back to Zuko in the blink of an eye, and stylishly wraps his legs around Zuko's legs, and starts break-dancing at such a velocity that it creates a weak tornado, sling-shotting Zuko half a mile away into the sea. With no more impedments, Sonic happily follows the Water Tribe siblings down into the boat,and Sonic hops behind the boat to propel it away like a motor boat.**

**Strangely, Sonic takes the two out further into sea; when asked why, Sonic reminds Katara of the promise his made earlier to take her to the north pole, and so begins Sonic's new adveture in the Avatar's shoes.**

**I hope you enjoyed the synopses of this chapter; hopefully I won't have to resort to this again...**

**Deadpool: You probably will, as lazy as you are...**

**I also would like to thank Olivia the Echinda for her generous donation of providing enough anonymous reviews to fund Grimlock's surgery, which was completly successful. Oh, Grrrrimloooooock..!**

**Grimlock:RAAAAAAWWWRR!**

**Deadpool: O.O' mother...**

**Please Review**


	20. Shadow of a Blue Flame

**Hiya, everybody; so, I would assume that you're all bewildered by the last chapter.**

**Deadpool: Well, actually I was be**_**fuddled**_**...**

**And that you wish for me to explain it?**

**Deadpool: It would be mighty generous on our part.**

**Well, I guess it would be rather rude to keep you people in the dark, so...**

**Grimlock: OOH! OOH! ME GRIMLOCK KNOW HOW! *shakes little T-rex arm***

**Oh really? Entertain me...**

**Grimlock:*smugly* Heh heh, you no fool smart primitive like me: Sonic use Delorian!**

**0_o!?...uh, ya know what? I think I'll just move on to the story...**

**Grimlock: YAAAAY! ON WITH STORY! ON WITH STORY!*stomps feet, creating earthquake***

***holds onto doorframe for dear life* Uh, heh heh, just do yourself a favor and pretend that other chapter never happened, kay?**

* * *

_**Previously, on The Element of Emerald...**_

_The Fire Lord stood there, leaning against the railing of his bedroom's balcony, clearly in deep thought._

_"Having girl troubles, my lord?" Inquired a deep male voice behind._

_*FLASH*_

_Chaos was pulled out of his thoughts on his next bound, when suddenly the ground gave away beneath his feet, causing him to plummet down through the trap._

_He fell down into a pre-made heap of dirt. He rose from the heap an akward muddy mass. _

_*FLASH*_

_Despite the circumstances, Zuko smiled at the sound of the voice, though he didn't turn around."There you are," he greeted,"I was wondering where you've been since I got back..."_

_"Just mobilizing the airships; you never know when over-head support is needed," the apparently esteemed man replied._

_*FLASH*_

_Two men in black robes and wide circular hats landed on either side of him._

_Chaos tried to separate from the mud and defend himself, but he could hardly even move. It was as if the dirt was specificly designed to absorb moistier._

_*FLASH*_

_Zuko exhaled."So, what're we telling our men?"_

_"Just to arm-up for the strong chance of an impending terrorist attack."_

_"That's true enough; I wish we could've told them more, though..."_

_*FLASH*_

_The agents forced him up without even touching him and threw him against a cleanly cut wall._

_*FLASH*_

_For some reason, Zuko always found his presence relieving, like everything was under control before he even walked in the room._

_*FLASH*_

_Out of the darkness came a third man. He wore the robe but was hatless. A long braid trailed down his shoulder._

_"You...are a monster," he sternly declared as a simple matter of fact, his deep voice resonating in the empty chamber. Suddenly, an orange translucent pot with a lit candle inside of it wisped by between them._

_*FLASH*_

_"Trust me, my lord: It's best not to dwell on what could've been - the less your personel is concerned for your sanity, the better," he reassured,"Now, I believe it's far past your bedtime, my lord; I'll see to it that the Avatar finds the emerald before midnight, and by tomorrow morning, we will have pieced together the perfect strategy for rescueing your sister."_

_*FLASH*_

_"You are an abomidable, rogue beast. Your only nature is destruction."_

_The pot flashed by again, this time the candle was more difficult to see._

_"But that does not mean...you cannot be controlled..."_

_Another flash; the candle was gone._

_"You will perform my every command without hesitation nor remorse..."_

_The whole pot was strenuous to make out. _

_"And pine for one when I am silent..."_

_There was no pot, just a light. Everything else was a void of black nothingness. There was just the man and the light._

_*FLASH*_

_Normally, the Fire Lord wouldn't have such a thing, but he really felt he was able to put faith into this single person, almost as much as Aang. Perhaps it was his Earth Kingdom background that made his ideals seem so firm._

_*FLASH*_

_"The Dai Li would never betray you," the agent declared mechanicly._

_"And I'm sure that's just what you told Long Feng before you turned against him and joined me..." the paranoid Azula speculated..._

_*FLASH*_

_"Forever vigilent...Forever submissive..."_

_*FLASH*_

_As the figure preceded to exit, the scarred teen turned around, still smiling warmly."Y'know, that's one of the central reason's I picked you to be my advisor, Long Feng, you really do know how to take hold of a situation."_

_*FLASH*_

_"Forever...mine."_

_*FLASH*_

_"It's a gift..." the former secretariat mumbled on his way out._

_*FLASH*_

* * *

**Book Five **

**Emerald**

**Chapter three**

**The Flames that Pierce the Shadows**

* * *

A lone pelicangull glided over one of the statues indicating the site of the renound Gates of Azulon.

Unknown to the bird, it casually breezed over another lone figure that was perched on the very tip of the stone Azulon's headpiece, only this was not a bird - it was a hedgehog.

Shadow stood on the crown of the giant statue, his arms crossed and his gazed focused on makings of land formations on the western horizon.

"So this is the border to the the grand Fire Nation that I've heard so much about - the most powerful nation on the planet..." the hedgehog began, so far unimpressed,"Let's see what you have to offer..."

The black hedgehog nimbly lept off the stone headpiece.

* * *

Aang stood firmly on the grass, his bare legs tightly slid against eachother; his only clothing a bare of dark brown shorts; his fingers were folded on level with his chin, his two index fingers sticking straight upward, his eyes were shut...

About twenty feet to his direct right stood Katara, wearing a lighter variation of Pakku's master atire; her arms were folded behind her; the royal turlteduck pond was inches behind her heels; she glared at her boyfriend without blinking.

Directly behind the still Aang stood Zuko, in his signature tunic that he donned when officially joining the fight against his own nation; his arms were crossed around his chest, his legs were spread; he looked upon his first and best friend with a enhanced version of his usual scowl.

To Aang's direct left and mirroring Katara was Toph, clad in her common "Blind Bandit" get-up; her fists rested on her hips; her sightless eyes not wavering.

The three were like stone, so intensely concentrated on the single individual that even the most subtle distrubance could set them off like a finely assembled skunkbear-trap...

Hanging on a wooden beam, Momo rapidly chewed away the edible substance of an avacodopeach. Suddenly, his twitchy fingers caused the hard core of the fruit to slip from the lemur's grasp. As the seed began its journey to the ground, it was as if time slowed down - the orb took five seconds to reach the ground, emitting a echoing _boom_.

_The trap was sprung..._

Immediately, Katara hauled a great deal of liquid out of the pond; she spun around with the water trailing her revolutions before launching a flying current at the boy.

A quarter-second later, Zuko produced a fire ball in each hand and slapped the ground, making a flaming shockwave berreling towards the the nomad.

At the very same instance as the waterbender, the earthbender stomped the ground with her left foot, forcing two huge boulders to erupt on either side of her; she quickly clasped her hands, the pair of boulders combined into an even huger boulder that she catapulted at the bald child.

The three elemental attacks rocketed for their common target, who all the while was stayed in his meditative position...

_His straight index fingers leaned to his right..._

With his eyes closed, Aang diverted the course of the water and swung his body and arms further to his right, it dipped lower and quenched the flame wave, the remaining was shot up into Zuko's face and froze, incasing his alarmed head in ice. Continuing his revolution another quarter, Aang balled his hands into fists and let his fingers go, the huge boulder dispersing into a huge mass of dirt, he blasted a hole though it with a narrow gail of wind, producing a small gap in the flying dirt so that it passed over Aang; instead, it flew into Katara at the same time as the gail of air into Toph, knocking them both over at once, Katara fell into the pond while Toph on her back.

Aang completed his revolution with a flame inhand, prepared for the final attack...which oddly failed to come...

Thrown off balance by this anomaly, the Avatar finally allowed his perplexed eyelids to flip open to see his fourth opponent, who was obliviously admiring his own clothing...

Instead of unleashing a torrent of fire as instructed, Aang slumped over, the flame vanishing as his arms dangled in annoyance."Sokka! You were supposed to rush me!" the airbender groaned.

Sokka was still adorned in the strange alien suit, flexing his fake muscles."...Rush who when?"

"What!? Oh come on, man, you ruined the momentum!" Toph shot up, with Zuko slapping his forehead, which he couldn't actually make contact with due to his head covered in ice; his grunt was also muffled.

Katara arose from the water, rolling her eyes."Sokka, you've been wearing that space suit for _three days_ straight; don't you at least want to take it off to bathe?" she inquired, bending the moisture out of her clothing as she arose from the pond.

"I know, that's another cool thing about it!" Sokka chirped,"it's made of this weird material that completely blocks my odor! I could've not showered for over a month, and you'd never be able to tell!" he cheered, his fists on his hips.

"You never shower anyway, so what's the difference?" was Toph's retort.

The warrior stiffened."dwell, you'd still never know..." he replied quickly.

Aang messaged his sinus."Seriously, will you just take it off already? How am I supposed to continue my versatility training against all sects of humanity when you keep putting yourself on display?" he explained, with Zuko nodding his frozen head.

The teen puffed out his covered chest."Hey, this thing is way more just some fancy pair of space pajamas; do you know how many times I woulda' been fried if it weren't for this get-up? I'm pretty sure that when I'm right in the middle of a society of firebenders, it pays off to wear a death-light-proof costume..." he defended,"Besides, this exercise is completely illogical: since when is a nonbender gonna have the guts to assault a fully-realized Avatar?" the warrior inquired skepticly.

_"We never said anyone assaulting the Avatar would be smart; it just pays to be prepared for it. Not everyone loves the Avatar, Sokka..."_ explained Zuko, his voice distorted by the ice.

The Southern Water prince prince flung his rubber hands up hystericly."Oh _sure!_ Because someday, there's going to be a full-scale nonbender revolution dedicated to the erradication of all bending! And maybe all the kingdoms and nations of the world will dissolve into one big united republic! And at its center will be some kind of 'Republic City', where people from all nations can live together in harmony; and carriages will be autonomicly mobile, and you can get super-rich just by having a cool idea or invention, and there'll be a huge professional bending tournament where benders will beat eachother up for a fancy prize!" he let his arms drop," Seriously, what you guys are asking me to do is no different than asking a little girl to bend three elements interchangeably and go tame a wild polar bear dog! It just won't happen!"

"Hey, if you guys need some help, I could train with you..." broached a familiar female voice, raising a hand.

The five froze at the sound of the voice, and instantly shifted into their respective fighting stances.

Azula, now wearing more expensive robes and her hair arranged in her recognizable topknot and bangs - minus the royal headpiece for obvious reasons - was naturally taken off guard.

The gaang paused, reabsorbing their memory of past events; their muscles relaxed, but not entirely.

"Oh yeah...that's right...you're not uh...not evil no more..." Aang articulated sheepishly, still unaccustomed to seeing that face and not dodging a blue fireball in the same second.

Her happy mood still present, the female firebender paced over to Momo, who was on the ground licking the core he dropped earlier."_Hello, Momo..._" she cooed, kneeling down to pet the lemur.

As soon as the primate saw her sharp finger nails inches from his head, every hair on the lemur's body sprang straight; he darted away in fear, zipping up Aang's shoulder; he hissed at the girl while cowering behind the airbender's head.

"_What's your angle, Azula?_" the ice-head Fire Lord demanded.

"I have no angle, brother," she explained brightly,"I just noticed that Sokka here has objected to his spot in training, so I simply assumed that someone needs to occupy that space..." she gestured to her person.

"You wanna train with us?" queried Toph."Like, 'with _us' _with us?"

Azula shrugged."Well, it isn't as though I have anything more productive at hand; I just thought would serve as healthy bonding now that we're friends and all..." she replied with an open smile, which was clearly forced despite her honest sincerity.

Katara winced, realizing that the _'we' _pertained to herself and the firebender exclusively. Her mind flashed back to that one moment within that dark room in the Ark (was that what Aang called it?) where she not only forgave Azula for her wrongdoings but essentially labeled her as a friend; the whole ordeal felt like a dream caused by bad milk, but it was no fantasy, and it certainly didn't seem like one: At first, she appeared very sweet and earnest with her change in personality, and even offered to assist the waterbender with cooking and other chores; but, by the second day of her "new life", Katara could tell that adjusting from wartime to peacetime was an entirely ethereal transition for the firebender - every fun activity she partook in so far was treated as strictly and precisely as military protocol, regardless of how aloof the concept; when Sokka told her the classic "guy walks into a hotel and says _ow_" joke, she couldn't help but criticize the mathematical improbability behind a man accidentally bumping into a such a large structure, reasoning that this supposed man was either blind or had a severe mental disability, which basicly caused Sokka's joke to sound infinitly more cruel than it was ever meant to be. When Aang tried to relate to everyone an old ghost story, she constently pointed out the naivity of the characters, listing multiple ways the ghoul could have been vanquished much sooner, or why the make-believe children shouldn't be all by themselves and be so willing to play around a graveyard, even using Sokka's hotel joke as an example; in the end, the Avatar felt like even more like a child for thinking the story was worth telling. When showing her how to properly braid hair - even allowing the firebender to use Katara's own hair for practice - she outright forced the waterbender to sit totally still until the firebender mastered the art of "hair loopy-ing" in its totality; while Katara was content with a few hairs out of place, Azula insisted that "almost wasn't good enough".

Strangely, despite her assertive gestures, Azula did nearly all of these and more with a peachy smile on her face, as if ignorant of her own insensitivity or how deeply it was affecting those around her. The waterbender could at least console herself with the fact that it was a step in the right path for the former princess; although this new "friendship" she inadverdently forged was becoming a bit of a burden: despite her amazing skills in almost every practical feild, she was becoming increasingly dependent upon Katara when it came to social relationships, and she was starting to get a bit too clingy for even the waterbender to tolerate - why Zuko was still allowing her to reside in the palace was beyond her...

_"Then I guess it's a good thing nobody thinks like you..." _the Fire Lord edged; he then blasted a fireball out of his mouth that shattered the ice around his face,"You must be even crazier than I thought if you think I'm gonna let you throw so much as a _spark_ in his direction!" he cried furiously.

"Oh, hello there, Mr. Hurling-a-wave-of-fire-at-your-best-friend, how ya been holdin' up?" reminded Toph with a snide wave of the hand.

The Fire Lord glossed over the path of burnt, dead grass he had just created; he shook his head."th-That was different! Aang trusted me to do something that he could readily counter! You can't trust _her_ with anything!" he replied, throwing his finger at his sister, who didn't exactly have a look that denied such a presumption.

"Aw, c'mon, Zuko, she helped us save the universe; isn't that enough to earn a place at the...floor-mat thingy?" Sokka queried, aware that people in the Fire Nation did not customarily conduct business around tables.

"No, Sokka, no It's honestly not; but to humor you, would _you_ like a _personal_ sparring match with my sister?" the monarch inquired.

The warrior shifted his gaze back to the girl; Azula smiled sweetly at the teen and waved.

The former waterbender twitched at this."Point taken." he squeaked, shrinking behind Zuko in a similar postion as Momo; this caused Azula to frown.

The Fire Lord thought as much."What about you, Toph?" he asked with his arms crossed.

The Bandit turned her blind face away, also crossing her arms."Hey, I felt what she can do with and with_out_ bending; I'd like to stay on the smart side of that..." she replied, pointing her finger at the subject,"But, I dunno, if Twinkle Toes is cool with it..." she shrugged

All eyes (excluding Toph's, including Momo's) were on the Avatar, who looked around with shifty eyes and twiddled his thumbs."Wweeeellll, the idea is that I fight different people with different abilities; two firebenders at once just doesn't sound right..." he explained weakly.

The scarred teen nodded smugly."Uh-huh, I didn't think so..."

Sokka corressed his chin, which will hopefully one day be clothed with a fine manly beard."_Weeell_, she _could_ shoot lightning at you instead..."

_**"**_**NO!" **Aang/Katara/Zuko screamed in horror, the waterbender instinctively wrapping her arms around the young Avatar like a mother platapus bear.

The waterbender settled herself down, releasing her boyfriend."_ahem_,um,What we're trying to say, Azula, is that...politics are...at an awfully tense spot right now; it'd be best if no one catches word of someone...like you...bending, well, at all...I hope you don't take it to heart..." she ever so tentatively explained, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

The firebender looked away - one way or another, she still did."...I see..." she began quietly, her tone hinting with a new sense of humility and rejection,"Well, I'm content that my request was atleast answered honestly; frankly, I should count myself blessed by the spirits I'm permitted to live here at all...'spose I'll be returning to my guest quarters now..." she half-mumbled, turning back, as she certainly wasn't allowed in the princess' bedroom.

"Good for you. But before you leave...Ty Lee...!" Zuko called.

Out of nowhere flipped the Kyoshi-clad gymnist, delivering the next batch of precise jabbs upon Azula's joints, effectively nullifying her bending once again. She preceded to silently escort the crippled firebender out of the garden.

Katara couldn't help but glare at the monarch."You are thoroughly enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Indeed I am," replied Zuko without missing a beat, with no evidence of remorse whatsoever. He began stretching."Well, that's enough exercise for today; if you need me, I'll be off doing rich people stuff..." he walked off in a different direction.

The waterbender shook her head.

"I'm surprised you're not enjoying it either, Katara..." Sokka broached,"especially after all the terrible stuff she's put us through," he smirked,"Seriously, she's funner to poke around than Ozai!"

Katara spun to her brother with a mixture of anger and unbelief."She has a heart too, you pentapus-headed swamp brain!" she lashed out, stomping away.

Sokka layed his chubby astronaught-gloved hands above his hips in a fatherly sort of way."Now that was uncalled for; what did pentapi ever do to you?" he wondered aloud. As well, Aang was silently wondering something else...

"You poke Ozai around?" he vocalized.

The teen nodded."Sure do; in fact, we have regular stick-poking sessions; where do you think I've been every other afternoon?" he revealed, strutting on his own way.

The Avatar raised an eyebrow, but shrugged nonjudgingly; he then summoned his staff to his grip with airbending, unfurled its navy blue wings (he was starting to miss his old orange wings) and took off to see how his bison was doing, leaving the water and earth benders on their own (Momo had places to be as well...)

Katara noticed her blind friend on the grass, reclining against a clay pot as she picked in between her toes with a twig - besides earthbending, her favorate pastime. Katara paced over and sat on the right of her, breifly

recalling the previous moment she rested next to Toph, the only person she could talk to; it felt as though the current subject equaled the previous one.

"What're we gonna do, Toph?" she began,"She really is trying to do good, but nobody believes her..." she moped,"Did you ever find yourself in a spot where you'd never thought you'd get out of?"

Blind Bandit continued casually picking her toes as if no one was talking to her."Well, besides that whole trapped-in-space thing, there was this one time back home when I took on this talking crocodile and a giant bee; heh, that lizard was smart..." she mentioned off-handedly,"think it was the same day I was captured too..."

Naturally, the waterbender payed the yarn no mind."I just wish there was a way to prove that Azula has truly changed..." she related glumly.

Toph tossed the filthy twig into the pond and produced a fresh twig out from a pile of fresh twigs."Here's the way I see it, Sugar Queen: the Fire Nation's all about score and honor and merit and stuff, so all she has to do is find away to get her honor back, and she'll be off the hook." she deduced.

"Yeah, but when is that going to happen? The world's been saved two times over; there's nothing big enough she could do to regain her honor; for all we knowm she could live this way for, at least, until the Boiling Rock is running again; what if she doesn't find something before then?"

The Bandit arose to her "earth-coated" feet."I wouldn't worry about it; that kinda' stuff always finds you anyway..." she concluded, trekking off somewhere as well.

Now the waterbender was all on her own, not even a lemur at her back; though that's nothing compared to what the firebender was probably feeling; her only hope was that an opportunity came to her where she could prove herself, and that said opportunity came fast...

* * *

Shadow leaned over on the red edging tile of a tall building, scanning the area as well as all who obliviously passed under him along the street; as luck would have it, the red, black, and golden structures served as exellent background colors for his fur, enabling plausible stealth in broad daylight.

It made sense to Shadow that, assuming this was in fact the same world Eggman had come upon, the doctor would first strike the most advanced and prosperous region of this world, and thus break the back of its military might; all Shadow had to do now was lay low and wait for him. But from where the hedgehog was positioned, that "might" wasn't much: this world was still in the child stage of its industrial era, and had yet to produce even a sign of an electronic breakthrough. This particular nation still appeared to be the most wealthy, having little qualm in incorperating pure gold into most of their constructions - even the roof Shadow was standing on was lined with the stuff. But perhaps it only appeared that way, and that they were simply flaunting precious resources for a the sake of maintaining a false prosperity. _Decadent humans..._

One thing Shadow picked up about this civilization: as a kingdom designated by fire, they were extremely devoted to centering virtually all aspects of society around it, both through architecture and wardrobe alike, anything reminiscent of the element; indicatively, as he soon realized, this nation's title of chief national animal apparently was assigned to the dragon, a fact the hedgehog found very interesting: even as he thought this, an expensive looking carriage with a prominent pair of the creatures (naturally, made of solid gold) adorning the top drove by...

Shadow could still see those two beasts, the flames swirling around him, flowing through him, the colors...like they were trying to communicate with him; and somehow, Shadow recalled, he...understood...

_Were they trying to to lead_ _me here? Did they know about the doctor? And, if not, what else was here for me to find?_

The black hedgehog's gaze traveled up to the crown of the enormous volcano dominating the landscape; it would stand to reason, this being the capitol, the palace was most likely up there, centered in the mouth of the inactive giant; perhaps the reason Eggman hadn't shown up yet is that he'd opted instead to deliver a threat to the ruler at hand, perhaps displaying his unlimited power in some other way, frightening the authority into submission. If that were so, then this "Fire Lord" would be among the handfull of humans on this world who's communicated with Robotnik personally; the only way to know for sure would be to confront the monarch directly, and see what he knows.

Shadow arose to his feet, facing tither when determination; there was only one way to find out for sure...

* * *

Speaking of the Fire Lord, the world's youngest monarch was at that very moment pacing down a hallway lined with green lanterns; a hallway that, until the past three months, did not exist. He walked by and waved at the guards he passed; but strangely, these guards were clearly not among the royal personel; in fact, the green-trimed robes clothing the majority of them obviously denied any affiliation to the Fire Nation, at least not until recently.

The Fire Lord smiled as he saw his destination before him: a stone wall at the end of the carved stone corridor, with another peculiarly dressed guard standing as still as a statue to the left of it. Zuko stopped before the wall, turning to the guard."Would you mind?" he asked politely.

The man silently nodded, getting into a stance and jerking his fist to the left, causing the wall to shift to the side, revealing a lofty-looking apartment. The Fire Lord continued (with the wall shifting shut behind him) through the solid stone building, over to a green curtain on the other side; he brushed the curtians aside and stepped onto a large stone balcony. Apparently, the apartment was carved into the side of the volcano that the royal palace sat upon. On the other end sat the individual whom Zuko went so far to visit, sitting cross-legged on a green mat facing the outside, with a small cup and smoking tea pot full of freshly brewed ginseng.

"Well now, it appears I have a visitor..." Long Feng began, still facing the beautiful landscape,"to what do I owe the honor?"

"I need some advice..." Zuko shrugged.

Long Feng refilled his cup."That figures. The only time you ever come all the way here is so that you can vent your woes and expect me to make you feel better," he joked, with a false sense of disappointment.

The scarred teen crossed his arms and smirked."Well, that's pretty much why I hired you in the first place," he retorted in an uncharacterisicly bright tone.

The advisor feigned a jolly chuckle."I suppose so," was his response,"So what is it this time, your majesty?" he turned his midsection toward the monarch.

The Fire Lord found himself sighing and looking down in another direction, similar to what Aang would do."I don't know what to do with Azula; everyone thinking she's changed, but I know it has to be a trick, and I'm tired of trying to prove it," he admitted,"And I know I can't put her back in the Boiling Rock yet; but, there's actually is this prison rig I was at that was off the coast of the Earth kingdom; it's out in the ocean, so it makes a good place for her considering she doesn't know how..."

"My lord, I need to stop you there," Long Feng interjected softly,"I mean no disrespect, but I think it best if you reaccess your wisdom," he explained,"Do yo really deem it fitting, after all that has transpired, that a member of the royal family is tossed away like refuse into some random prison on the other side of the planet? She _is_ your sister..." he inquired.

At this, the Fire Lord looked ashamed."I know, but only because most of those things are _her fault_," he justified,"In fact, I bet it was _her_ who contacted Eggman in the first place!"

"Your highness, we've been through this before: it was Katara who contacted him, not Azula..." Long Feng reminded in a disturbingly parental tone.

Zuko nodded."I know, I know..." he consigned. Zuko still was skeptical that his Water Tribe comrade was capable of such betrayal, but...if Long Feng said so...

"Besides," Feng continued,"We can point as many fingers as we please, but it not going help help us spread the Fire Nation's prosperity to the four corners of the world, now will it?"

The monarch seemed unsure."I guess not..."

"Then I believe we've reached a conclusion," Long deduced, rising to his feet,"It is only fair that you allow your baby sister to wander around as she pleases," he raised his hands and bowed submissivly,"But of course, as far as her bending is concerned, that permission is wholly determined by your supreme grace."

"Darn right it is," the Fire Lord nodded with gusto,"Last thing I need in this regime is some sycophant trying to undermine my authority," he boasted,"Well, thanks for the advice, Long Feng, it really made my day," he thanked, turning around and leaving.

"And it bestows honor to mine..." Long Feng performed the firebender's bow, happy to receive all the information he can get from the boy.

As the Fire Lord was about to exit, a familiar servant rushed in with a scroll."Sir, I-!" he froze at the site of the scarred king."Oh-er-a-a thousand pardons my..."

The smiling Zuko blew it away with a hand, and quietly departed.

As soon as the sound of closing stone echoed, Long Feng glared at the servant forbodingly."What do you think you're doing, you unruly knave?" he growled,"How many times must I tell you that no message can be delivered to Fire Lord Zuko without first being filtered through me!?"

The pink-clad messenger immediately kneeled to the floor, clearly much more afraid of displeasing this man than the one who just left."Please forgive me, sir. An official report has come in from Yu Dao; your, um, agents there believed that it should gain your immediate attention..." he explained nervously.

The newly hired advisor rolled his eyes and sighed."I thought the Avatar had already taken care of this space station-nonsense," he complained, snatching the scroll from the servant's cowardly grasp,"What more could there be to this!?" Long Feng unwinded the scroll and began reading. Oddly, as the earthbender reviewed the message further and further, his lips and eyebrows contorted into ever awkward positions - he clearly had a hard time comprehending what supposedly came from a squad of competent, rational, and mentally sound members of the Dai Li. Long Feng turned around toward the sea, at a deeper loss for words than when Azula overthrew him."...And...you say this is a legitimate report?" he asked for confirmation.

The servant quickly nodded, even though Long Feng couldn't actually see him do so."The massage was decoded from the Dai Li's encrypted text..."

Upon this latest knowledge, the new advisor's eyebrow furrowed."I see..." was all he had to say. He calmly rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the subordinate."You are dismissed; kindly dispose of this letter like the rest."

The servant nodded, and scurried out of site.

As he heard the slab shut once again, Long Feng returned to his reclining position and refilled his cup of tea, observing the shipping docks from afar.

This was not the first time that Long Feng had received a message like this; if he would allow them all to exist, the archives would be cluttered with reports and written eyewitness accounts pertaining to such "blue hedgehog" stories, as well as many other different talking creatures littered throughout the Earth Kingdom. The first reports came but a couple days succeeding the "Mount Makapu disaster" that cut the Avatar's World Peace Tour short (a true shame, Longs Feng of thought, that he wasn't able to keep the new Fire Lord away a little longer...), and continued throughout the rest of the week and onward; the multitude of scattered reports, coupled with the remarkably short frequency that vastly preempted even the quickest method of continental gossip, denoted completely the rational that of it being mere childish lore.

And it certainly couldn't be that his own men were trying to send him false reports: the notion that one member of his own personnel happened to be making up the same story at the exact same time another member was forging very the same story on another region of the Earth Kingdom was more ludicrous to believe than the reports themselves. No, these reports simply _had_ to be legitimate; the aged earthbender wondered if these random reports had anything do with this "Eggman" character, it could be that creatures might actually be his spies gathering information about this world. If that were true, than it would not be long before one of these "blue hedgehogs" ends up in the Fire Nation, most likely to liberate his defeated master.

On the other hand, these hedgehog-creatures might actually be his enemy; the Avatar did mention something about the alien scientist's space station not actually belonging to him; it wasn't at all speculation to think that these creatures were the true owners of the station, bereft of their vessel by the doctor and marooned on this world. That theory felt even more sound with the side note that the Avatar himself referred to the station as "a space colony"...

Either way, these creatures clearly didn't what to befriend this world's natives, or perhaps just Long Feng exclusively...

The new advisor couldn't contain a frustrated snort: these so-called animals were evidently the ones interfering with the Earth Kingdom revolt creeping quietly along the continent; even the rebel leader, Gow, had just now reported to have been uprooted as the leader on account of his sudden absence. _(What? Did the blue hedgehog take his earthbending away or something?)_ clearly there had to of been more than one blue hedgehog, given the aforementioned frequency of reports scattered throughout the Earth Kingdom; it was either that, or this hedgehog could run really, really...

Long Feng huffed: this operation wasn't panning out in his favor - it was only a matter of time before one of these "Blue Spirits" actually makes their way into the capital, and perhaps even jeopardize his cover; but if they did, well, between the almighty master of four elements who's nose he was currently hiding under, as well as his elite earthbending agents that secretly monitor the happenings of the palace unseen, it was safe to assume he was prepared to deal with the issue...

Let the rodent come.

* * *

Meanwhile, on a post built into the wall separating the palace from the rest of the city, two guards clad in Fire Nation Elite armor stood facing either direction - one with his knuckle rested above his hip, and the other with his arms crossed.

"...Man, this is boring..." the cross-armed sentry facing the palace said, breaking the silence.

"How many times are you going to say that?" the knuckle-resting sentry inquired with out facing him.

"Well, it is! I mean, why are we even up here? All we do is stand in this thing like statues and spend the whole day preparing for an emergency that never happens!" the second sentry complained.

"We're guards; its what we do..." the first sentry deadpanned.

"Normally, I'd agree with you; but are you aware of who's been living here for the past _three months_?" Sentry#2 quried.

Sentry#1 blinked, though the action was hidden under the mask."The Avatar-?

"The Avatar!" #2 answered for him, spreading his hands apart,"We've got the most powerful human in the world darkening the palace's doorstep, and they just expect _us_ to make sure he doesn't get attacked!? Who's stupid enough to attack the Avatar!?" he demanded.

"You're missing the principle..." #1 tried.

" 'Principle'!? That's your excuse!?" was #2's response, pacing the narrow floor to complement his rant."Last time I checked, it was _him_ who swore to protect people like _us_! If someone shows up who's strong enough to defeat the Avatar - which is impossible - what're _we _supposed to do about it!? I feel like a rabbitpuppy guarding an adult boarcupine!"

#1 sighed, and finally turned around."Look, the point is we're not preparing for something that's not going to happen, but preparing _before_ it happens. It is our solemn and most honorable duty to oversee the land that our ruler governs," he explained as he stepped parallel to #2,"As a logical consequence, it is imperative that nothing must escape our watch." he concluded.

About a split-second later, a black blur shot passed the first sentry from behind, Zooming across the barren plain and into the open doors of the royal palace in the blink of an eye, leaving only a trail of floating dust.

Sentry#2 stood there, completely frozen by what he could have sworn he just saw.

"...What?" Sentry#1 asked, wondering why his partner had fallen so silent.

"...duh...dr-du-td..." #2 mumbled quietly, swinging his head from the gate to his partner to the rest of the city. Not sure what to make of the anomoly, he simply turned around and returned to his routine watch."Just mind your post, soldier..."

* * *

Among the primary things that Azula noticed upon her return to the palace was the severe shortage if not outright absence of servants, guards, messengers, or other personnel roaming the halls of the main royal palace; even the halls themselves were riddled with dust and cobwebs, denoting the lack of even a single maid. In fact, any assailant could sneak throughout this complex without worry and go at least twenty minutes before encountering another sign of life.

Of course, that was most likely her own fault, having banished every thing that moved (and a few things that didn't move) during her mock reign; it was such a numbingly bitter experience: she was at the threshold of international prestige and yet couldn't help but think everyone was out to get her. It was clear that the new Fire Lord had great difficulty gathering some new staff members or redeeming the old ones, especially considering the amount of irrational fear she injected into a lot of these servants over petty gestures.

Azula shuddered mentally: it was starting to feel like she was still up there, in that cold, dead, quiet space station. At least she could comfort herself with the fact that she had company leading her down the silent, dim palace to her guest bedroom.

It was odd though - Ty Lee had so far been completely silent during her assignment, not giggling or whistling or even adjusting her atire; she never knew her "friend" (she wished she could oneday call her that for real) to be so focused. It was clear that her running off and training amongst those fan warriors had made a noticeable change in the gymnast's mindset; at this point, their leader would have been more talkative.

Well, if Azula was to reforge (or just actually forge) the bond that held the three together, it was evident that she was the one who was going to have start the conversation; and at this juncture she could only wonder: what would Sokka say?

"ssso...we haven't spoken much in a good while..." the firebender lipped out.

"yep..." was the other girl's response.

"...are you...at good health?" she tried.

"I'd say so..." she replied with little thought.

The former princess chose her words carefully...

"...So how's Mai doing?"

"Same..." Ty Lee responded.

_"m...very good..."_ she nodded.

More walking...

"And you're a...Kyoshi Warrior now...how ironic..."

"Didn't think that circus stuff was going for me..." she admitted.

Azula gave that some thought, and chuckled to herself."You might say, that you ran away _from_ the circus..." she smiled awkwardly.

"I don't really see how that's running..." the new-found warrior retorted.

Azula's smile faded."of course not..." she corrected.

More uncomfortable silence.

"...Wanna hear a joke?" Azula tried.

"I'm not really supposed to be talking to you..." Ty Lee reminded.

At this, the crippled firebender winced...she tried again...

"It's an airbending joke..." she tempted.

The former performer sighed."Go ahead..."

Azula's smile returned with a vengeance."Well, it goes like this: an airbender walks into a boat dealership; the boatdealer asks 'Well, I appreciate the business but, what do you need a ship for? Can't you fly?' but the airbender just smiles and says..."

Before she could deliver the punchline, something short and black blew right past them in an instant, at a speed almost imperceptible my the human senses, causing Azula to hault her pace."What was that?"

"I don't get it..." Ty lee said.

"No seriously, what was that? It went right past us!" she explained.

"I didn't see anything..." was the other girl's next response.

"It went this way!" Azula announced, breaking away from Ty Lee and dashing of after what she said she saw.

"Wait! Where're you going!? You're not allowed to go through the palace without an escort!" Ty Lee called, hastily following her.

* * *

Shadow was genuinely surprised to actually have passed someone through these empty halls, as they were the first he'd seen since those two idiots outside the palace; it felt uncannily similar to the Space Colony after it was shut down. Those girls probably couldn't even see him at the speed he was moving; he didn't care to interact, he was only looking for the Fire Lord.

But then again, the hedgehog had to consign to his curiosity as to why it was that this palace was as devoid of activity as it was; it was as if this "Zuko" just went mad and irrationally banished the entire staff out of pure paranoia. This thought only further entertained his miniscule desire to turn around and confront those two girls he passed, but he once again snuffed it out through consideration of the strong chance of them sooner being paralyzed in awe of a talking hedgehog. Or perhaps they would want to pet him and cuddle him like the rest.

_Honestly, what is it about me that teenaged human females find me so adorable?_

Breezing around another ninety-degree turn whilst getting his mind back in order, Shadow immediately stopped his high-speed skate, concluding that it was pointless to maintain a speed faster then the human eye can follow when there were no human eyes to evade, coincidentally halting before two large red drapes at the end of the hall that combined to form the assumed Fire Nation insignia. Yet to be impressed, the black hedgehog walked through the drapes to find what should have been his destination: a broad, dark throne room lined with dozens of metal pillars. As was said, it should've been his destination; and yet, not the Fire Lord, nor anyone else, occupied this chamber, although it wasn't a challenge to deduce why...

The room was devastated: the pillars buckled outward, there were chips of debris scattered across the floor, even the golden throne itself was marred into a perversion of whatever it originally looked like, and so far, it was safe to assume that Eggman had already beaten Shadow here. Judging from the arrangement of the damage, Shadow calculated that these were simultaneously caused by a large explosion; but strangely, there were no scorch marks on the pillars, the throne, or the floor, so it couldn't have been a conventional bomb. That made sense, considering Eggman would want to deal the most demoralizing blow to this ignorant nation while retaining no casualties; it sounded all to obvious that he had captured the Fire Lord, or perhaps someone dear to him. Observing the angles of the bent pillars, Shadow determined the center of the explosion, walking over to the impression in the metallic floor. It was still very odd - the impression itself had no scorch marks either; instead, the metal appeared to have been oxidized, if hit with a blast of air, actually perplexing the hedgehog. What could have possibly gathered that much air in such a room as this and concentrate it into a single spot in such a quantity of power that it sent a shockwave throughout the rest of the room? Shadow was beginning to think that it wasn't Eggman who did this; but if not, than who di-

_***crack***_

Shadow looked down, realizing he stepped on a piece of debris that was unusually close to the impression; he leaned over and picked it up. It was apparent that someone had already done the same, this piece being isolated from the rest of the debris. As Shadow scanned the shard, the more he realized how different it was from what he'd seen throughout this town, with all its lightness, composition, and...

_...circuitry..._

Shadow crushed the piece of technology - Eggman **was** here, the hedgehog missed him by a mile; whatever that fat scientist planned to do with the Fire Lord was too late to determine; he decided his best option was to regroup with Rouge and preempt the doctor's next offensive, which he was getting ready to do... right until a peculiar sensation enveloped the hedgehog - the kind of feeling that one has which alludes that he is in fact not alone in the room, as if he were being watched...

...from above!

Shadow immediately flung his hand upwards, firing a Chaos Spear into the dark ceiling, creating an explosion that for a split second provided enough light to reveal six robed figures dropping down from the hiding place. One of them sent down a volley of rock pellets which Shadow cart-wheeled to the right to avoid, jumping up and dashing as a ball against the first one in the abdomen, knocking him the metal floor before the other five even touched down.

Shadow turned to face the rest: he knew this place was too quiet...

* * *

"Did you hear that explosion!?" Azula stammered as she scrambled down the hall."I think it came from this direction!"

"_What _explosion!? I didn't hear anything!" Ty Lee panted.

Azula found the energy to scoff."D'oh come on, Ty Lee, is your hearing really _that _dull? Now pipe up quicken your pace!" she commanded.

"What are you talking about!? Why are you running!?" the former gymnast breathed heavily; her exhausted expression then vanished upon a sudden realization of their direction."Azula, _please_ tell you're not heading for the throne room!? You are absolutely _not_ allowed in there!" she tried.

The second man from the left shot out a rock fist that Shadow weaved to the left to dodge; Shadow dashed forth to punch the man, but he grabbed Shadow's fist with his other stone hand as the neighboring right man tried to jab Shadow with his stone fingers; Shadow grabbed that man's wrist and flung him into the previous man; Shadow dodged the punch of the man on the far left and backflip-kicked him away. Shadow wheeled around to punch the man behind him, but the man launched a flying rock hand that caught Shadow's wrist, sending Shadow through the air and into a pillar, the rock hand clamping his wrist against the pillar like a stapler.

The men flanked Shadow as he tried to wrent his hand free. See himself in a tight spot, the hedgehog threw a Chaos Spear at the floor between him and the men, creating another explosion that threw the men off guard. Shadow took this precious time to clench his retrained fist and break free through raw strength, unsing the momentum from doing so to roll through the smoke and kangaroo-kick the man that was in front of him, grab another man's punching fist and catapult the man into another pillar, and deliver a flying kick to another man, a kick that was energized by his boot's rocket booster, blasting the man out through the curtains and screaming out of the room.

* * *

The two neared the corner that would take them straight to the throne room.

"Azula, I'm begging you, I could be kicked out of the Kyoshi Warriors if they found out I let you in there!" Ty Lee begged.

The firebender kept on running, positive of what she saw."Relax, I'm just going to look; hurry! I think I here a fight going on..."

As she was about to round the corner, a large blur flew past her eyes, slamming painfully into the metal wall opposite the throne room. the two girls froze at the sight of the man.

Azula gasped."A Dai Li agent!?"

As the agent arose from the floor, almost too dizzy to remember his own name, his head jerked up to see the former princess and her so-called friend staring down at him in shock; he blinked."Aw nuts..." the man muttered before punching out his right arms, sending a rock fist that crashed into Ty Lee's abdomen, sending the girl tumbling ten feet backwards.

"Ty Lee!" Azula spun around to her hopefull friend; her attention reverted back to the Dai Li agent, who was fully arisen, though a tad hunched over; he managed a stance.

Azula assumed a stance as well, and thrusted her fingers out...only to be reminded that her firebending was still blocked - she was helpless against the agent.

Noting this with relief, the agent steadily walked closer to the girl, producing another pair of rock gauntlets out of his large sleeves.

Azula evaded his grab and ducked under his swing; the cripped firebender then tried to jab at the agent's joints at an attempt to block his chi, but at only slowed him down, at the least giving Azula enough time to turn and run away, forcing the stunned agent to stumble after her.

* * *

Shadow rubbed his gloved knuckles, surrounded by five unconscious earthbenders.

"Foolish humans; thought they could get the drop on me..." he mumbled with annoyance. The hedgehog then took a moment to count his assailents - weren't there _six _of them?

Shadow then recalled kicking one of the humans so hard that he flew out of the room; Shadow shook his head - he might as well make sure number 6 was still alive. The hedgehog skated out through the curtains, intent on finding the body; but as soon as Shadow rounded the corner, he did not find was expected: inplace of the motionless body of a man lied a young girl, adornded in green full-body kamino armor. Shadow immedeitely recognized her as one of the two girls he had sped past undetected less than a mintue ago: she was curled up on the floor, clearly in a great deal of pain.

The black hedgehog quickly stepped over to her, kneeling down beside her.

"What happened to you? Did that man in the green robe attack you?" Shadow inquired, gently shaking her shoulder.

The girl was still awake, but she was in such a great deal of pain that she couldn't even open her eyes, let alone speak._"ggrhge...az...zula...g..._go find Azula!" she moaned, unknowingly relinquishing Shadow's grip by flailing her arm.

" "Azula' ?" Shadow repeated with a raised eyebow; he then remembered the other girl that he passed, the robed man must've chased her away. The black hedgehog left her alone, skating back through the hallway.

Shadow hoped he wasn't somehow the cause of this...

* * *

The firebender breathed heavily, feeling more afraid than ever before: no guards, no witnesses, no friends, no reason to scream for help; she didn't even have the time to wonder what caused the agent to fly through the hall like like that, or _why_ he was even here! Why, oh _why_ did she ever banish all the guards!?

The crippled firebender halted as she ended up in some room full of spair decorations that Zuko apparently didn't like; luckliy, there was a window on the other end of the room, a window that one could easily escape out of. But that person would have to think twice, as when Azula ran over to the window and peered over the edge, she found at least a fifty-foot drop, complemented by the barren, gray ground that surround the palace; perhaps if she could firebend, she could conjure jet streams to break her fall, not that that made anything better-

She froze, she spun around to see the Dai Li agent, his dizziness just about shrugged off - there was no where to run...

Her heartbeat racing, she became desperate..."y-you...I thought I banished you untrustworthy scum! How dare you defy your leader!" she lashed out, feigning a sense of superiority.

"The Dai Li no longer serve you..." the agent replied monotonely; he then broke his poise with a smirk,"We're untrustworthy, remember?"

_He's enjoying this!_

Oh if only Azula hadn't have exiled all the personel, if only she hadn't allowed her personal grief to overwelm her! Then at _least _there would be someone to...

She couldn't finish her thought as the agent charged, latched his his rock glove around the helpless teen's left arm, grabbed her right shoulder with his right hand, and threw her against a wall on the right, knocking over a couple rolled up carpets.

Before the dizzy Azula could even think about rising to her feet, a cold stone hand clasped around her neck, lifting her up and pinning her physicly inferior body against the wall.

The crippled firebender felt the feeling being sapped out of her body, overwelmed by the excrutiating want for air.

"I'm afraid you've seen far too much, princess..." the agent recited with a most subtle hint of venom, pulling his right arm back and clenching his glove into a rock fist, a fist that launched straight for the girl's face...

...A fist who's wrist was caught by another gloved hand...

"If you thought I sent you flying before..."Shadow hissed dangerously at the offender, gaining a look of horror from the agent.

"You can't talk!?" the earthbender cried with his eyes as wide as fish-eyes, so petrafied that he inadverdently allowed his target to slip from his iron grasp.

_"I can do a lotta things..." _the black hedgehog replied before twisting the man's wrist the wrong way, causing him to howl in pain before Shadow spun with him at a super-velocity, sling-shotting the agent clean out the window.

With the last assaillent dealt with, Shadow turned his attention towards the victim, currently on her hands and knees, her head hung low as she gasped for air.

_A princess, eh?_

As Azula embraced the feeling of conscousness that reanimated her, coughing and hacking all the way, her brain almost automaticly queried what just happened to the Dai Li agent that had her in a choke hold but a split-second ago; she had her immediate answer upon the sight of a white gloved hand in front of her face, outstretched presumebly to pull her up; however, it was the thing that was connected to that hand that made her blood turn cold - staring back down at her, with big, edged, red irises.

"So, Princess Azula I presume?" greeted Shadow to Azula.

* * *

**OOOOOOH MMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY goshthatwastolong!**

**Deadpool: Ya think!? And to think that was the SHORT version! Where were you this whole time, locked up in a Turkish prison!?**

**Look, I'm sorry, But can't help it if I keep putting this story on hiatus! I just want it to be a good story.**

**Grimlock: *shakes head*Nuh-uh: puny human get grounded my mommy!**

**Deadpool: *snickers* you're kidding me, right!? What were you grounded for!?**

***rubs sinus* lest just say it involved a potato chip and leave it at that, alright?**

**Grimlock: HAH HAH! PUNY HUMAN GET PUT ON PUNISHMENT LIKE LITTLE BABY!**

***ambulance burst through the wall, transforming into Ratchet* **

**Prime: There you are, Grimlock! We've been worried sick of you!**

**Grimlock:Peh, what me care what puny Autobot think!?**

**Ratchet: That's it, mister, you're grounded! You get back in the cave and I don't wanna see you come out!**

**Grimlock: WHAT!? Awwww, no fair...**

***Ratchet pulls Grimlock by his imaginary ear out of the house***

**Me/Deadpool: 0_o?...**

**Deadpool:...welp', I guess it's just you and me now, good ol' buddy ol pal-**

**You can't have my PS3.**

**Deadpool: _dangit..._**

**Please review!**


	21. The Fire Erupts

Azula had her back pressed against the wall, utterly paralyzed out of raw shock.

She had been endowed with the godlike power of Sozin's Comet, deafeated and dethroned by a random waterbender girl, locked away in a maximum security prison for three months, kidnapped by a giant metal canine, taken up to an floating fortress that orbited the earth like the moon, swallowed whole by a chicken, befriended the exact same waterbender that defeated her, fought through an army of animated soldiers _and_ creatures made of water, plummeted through the atmosphere like a meteor and saved at the very last nanosecond in a magical flash of light - all in one day no less - and past all probability is now once again residing within her alongside virtually every person she once tried to kill with a cool, calculating passion; and yet, all of those things as well as any other significantly moment in her life were all eclipsed in totality by the _three foot tall talking hedgehog_ currently stood before her on its long slender hind legs, outstretching its hand - the hedgehog _had __hands_ - while gazing down at her with the most austere, soul piercing gaze that the most elite firebenders in history would envy.

Shadow wondered why the so called "princess" suddenly fell so deathly silent; it wasn't as if her breathing were still constricted, and if it were, she would be coughing, and would not have been able to have vaulted her body backwards as she just did."Well? Are you a princess or not?, he tried again, his hand still extended expectedly.

"You're a talking hedgehog..." was honestly the only thing the awe-struck Azula could say at this point, and it seeped through her lips like a tiny puff of steam.

Shadow was slightly taken off guard: somewhere in the commotion, the hedgehog had overlooked his low profile in order to save this girl, and now his predicted result of their meeting was taking place (at least it was this and not the _other_ reaction...); if Shadow allowed for more forethought, he would have waited until the rock-fisted assailant had fully incapacitated this "Azula", and only then would the hedgehog have assaulted the man, and then question him about what his purpose was here, probably even find a few answers pertaining to-

_*snort*_

Shadow blinked, nudged out of his train of thought by a strange noise that girl had suddenly produced with her nose...half a second later, she snorted two more times; it wasn't long before a series of rapid minuscule heaves of air hopped up her throat. Shadow was tempted to raise an eyebrow: was she... snickering?

The hedgehog's suspicion was soon proven, as the girl's discreet snicker the rose into a not so subtle giggle and finally exploded into a fit of thunderous laughter, howling like a hyena as she slipped back onto the floor, greatly disturbing Shadow.

Azula found herself clutching her sides; not out of pain, but of laughter - no, not the diabolical sneer or the smug aristocratic chuckle or even the deranged ravaged cackle (although it was close to the latter), it was just pure, rib-tickling, childlike laughter. In fact, she was sure she had not experienced even a tenth of this level of gefaw in all her young life; such an alien sensation to her and yet it completely overwhelmed her faculties like a lightning bolt.

His stoic gaze finally disintegrated by this anomaly, Shadow, now stared upon her as if she had spontaneously transformed into a cow. Just what was she laughing for!?

The princess seemed to answer the question as she rolled back and forth on the floor madly."HAHAHAHAHAHA! y-ha-you-ha-you're a talk-ha-A TALKING HEDGEHOG!" cried Azula with all her strength, only forestalling the laughter for a split second, and once again swept away by the absurdity of the moment.

Shadow stared in confusion: why on earth would someone find the presence of an anthropomorphic animal amusing? Let alone one who has never seen anything like that beforehand. Well, whatever the reason, it was certainly giving this girl joy beyond comparison, something this genetically engineered mammal didn't have the time to observe. He didn't exactly _enjoy_ being laughed at either...

"Are going to stop laughing soon? I need to speak with you for a moment..." the hedgehog announced coolly, keeping his prodded temperament under wraps.

The crippled firebender's ecstasy died down enough for her to sit on her knees, though she dared not look back up at the hedgehog in the eyes for fear of another halarious outburst."and now it wants to speak with me..." she giggled aloud without actually talking to him, rubbing a tear from her left eye,"hehhehe, and here I thought Eggman was an oddity..."

A chill ran up Shadow's back - _did she just say...?_

"...hm hm, oh my goodness," Azula went on,"I can't wait t tell Ty Lee about-" but then Azula recalled something very important, and it consumed her giddy state of mind all together,"Ty Lee!" she cried, leaping to her feet and running past the hedgehog to go care for her friend.

Shadow went blank as the princess trotted by like he wasn't even there; that _tore_ it!

Before Azula was even two steps from the exit, she to halt on her toes as the funny-looking hedgehog zipped in front of her with uncanny speed, blocking her exit.

"Not so fast, princess!" Shadow began with gravity,"I've been looking for the Fire Lord all day, on the _off chance_ he might have been contacted by the man who' is currently my most despised nemesis, who's name you just happened to utter as if you've met him before: I want answers, _now..."_

Azula could only scowl down at the creature that had ignited so much bliss within herself; she was about to deliver a threat that she liekly could not follow through with, until her brain put two things together: this hedgehog had just exhibited a stunning amount of speed by cutting off her exit with ease, it reminded her of that _black blur_ that flashed past herself and Ty Lee mere minutes ago...

"Wait a minute," she vocalized, peering down at him,"You were that thing that passed us in the hallway, weren't you?" she demanded, actually talking directly to the rodent, who cocked an eyebrow.

"You mean you two saw me?" Shadow queried in disbelief; there was no way they could've registered him at the rate he was moving, unless their sense were really _that_ much more acute than normal - must've been the perk of some special training.

"Correction," Azula replied,"_I _saw you. My visual perception is keener than the finest Yu Yan archer. I chased you down, with Ty Lee hopelessly trying to catch me, but then that Dai Li agent showed up and-why was there a Dai Li agent!?" she demanded again, still confounded by the idea of talking to a hedgehog.

That hedgehog crossed his arms."I was hoping _you_ would know why," Shadow glared up at her,"They ambushed me in the throne room, which was already trashed when I got there."

" 'They' !? You mean there were more of them!? Oh, you can't be serious!" the teen clutched her head in disbelief; she then made to leave the room again.

Shadow tenses, spreading his arms."You're not getting passed me..." he warned.

"The heck if I'm not!" Azula replied angrily, quickly leaned her hand against the hedgehog's head and using him as a platform to somersault clean out of the room, shoving the black furry obstacle to the floor.

The blind-sided Shadow immediately sprung back to his feet and spun around to chase the princess."Get back here!"

Azula stopped just long enough to swing her right arm back, creating an arc of blue fire that once again caught the hedgehog off-guard, separated the two with a wall of flame too high to jump over."Well, at least _something_ still works...!" the no longer crippled firebender breathed continuing forward.

Needless to say, Shadow was surprised by this latest display of elemental power - he now saw the true reason that this was called "The Fire Nation". However, he still wasn't impressed...

Shadow dashed up the wall and skated along the ceiling, swerving back to the floor, curling into a ball, and rolling right into the running girl's legs, instantly flipping her onto her back.

Azula pushed up, only to see the hedgehog once again in her path.

"As I stated: you're not getting passed me..." Shadow reaffirmed with crossed arms.

The firebender jolted to her knees, actually at eye-level with the hedgehog."What's the matter with you!? My friend is injured; get out of me way! she demanded.

"Not until you tell where Eggman is and how know you know about him!" he demanded.

The princess seethed with anger at the strange creature."And what does it matter so much you know? Is he your master?" she sneered.

"_That_ is none of your concern," Shadow answered sternly.

"Really now?" she cocked her head to the side,"Then if you don't feel the need to explain _your_self, then I suppose whatever I know is none of _your concern!_" she retorted."Now, I suggest you stand aside and let me check Ty Lee's injuries, otherwise this conversation is going nowhere." she affirmed, crossing her own arms.

Shadow took a deep breath and sighed."Fine..." he agreed, extending his own hand once again to pull her up. However, as the girl finally reached to take the gloved hand, the haand gripped her right forearm and dashed back down the hall, in mere seconds back to the intersection where Ty Lee was. Upon stopping, Shadow allowed the momentum of his abrupt stop to fling the princess several feet forward.

The disoriented Azula needed a second to recover from the sudden transition as she struggled to arise back upon her wobbly legs."h-How d-_dare_ you...th-throw m-me around in such a way!?" she sputtered; she then paused to take a look around - there was no one else in here."Ty Lee? Where did she go?" she wondered rhetorically.

"I last saw your friend lying here right before I left to save you," Shadow explained, pointing to the very spot she lied on,"She must've fled for help..." he speculated.

"What? That couldn't be," Azula disagreed,"she was far too immobilized to just get up and walk away, unless..." she gasped,"unless the agents took her!" she realized covering her eyes beneath her fingers as she paced around in a circle."I cannot _believe_ that the Dai Li are still here! And right under Zuko's and the Avatar's nose! Oh, this is just so horrible! This is just...just..." the princess trailed off, her sad tone fading, as the full scope of the situation was made manifest to her, and how it could pertain to her current political status "...perfect!" she beamed out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" Shadow questioned.

"Don't you understand?" the firebender wheeled around and inquired with a an unusual degree of enthusiasm,"What? What am I saying, of course _you_ don't understand, here I'll tell you: you see, there was this great war that went on for the past hundred years between my nation and the other two because there was this enormous Comet that was going to amplify all firebending which my father the previous Fire Lord wanted to take advantage of to burn the Earth kinddom to nothing and pronounced me the new Fire Lord before he left so he could rule the world under this ridiculous title but because the mighty Avatar who is the most powerful being on the planet and master of all four elements stopped him and removed his firebending the war was lost and because my older brother Zuko camed to me during my coronation and challenged me to an Agni Kai which means 'Fire Dual' that I ended up losing when I cheated out of desperation because I was extremely paranoid and couldn't think straight but it didn't matter because this other person defeated me anyway so I was consequently overthrown by Zuko who became the new Fire Lord himself even though our uncle was technically the true heir to the thrown all along but it didn't matter either because Zuko ended the war and together with the Avatar ushered in a new era of world-wide peace and harmony and I was thrown in prison and lost all my honor but now I am no longer prison but I still have no honor and I needed a way to restore my honor but I had no way to restore my honor so I had to wait and wait and wait and wait imperatively for a way to restore my honor but nothing came until just now when you showed up and finally revealed a way for me to restore my honor!" she concluded joyfully.

Shadow could only stare up at the girl with a completely blank expression; his left ear twitched..."What are you even talking about?" the hedgehog demanded, narrowing his eyes.

Azula groaned."What do you mean 'what am I talking about', I just told you everything! The point is that there're DaI Li agents roaming the halls of the Fire Lord's palace for unknown reasons this is the perfect chance for me to regain my honor. I mean really, they could be trying to spy on my brother, or planning to overthrow him; I were to single handedly prevent that and expose their presence here, why, I'd earn back my country's respect in a day!" she resoluted."Now come on; if I'm gong to save Ty Lee, my honor, _and _my nation, I'm going to need someone's help to do it," the former princess finished, turning around and apparently expecting the talking animal to follow him into the throneroom.

_...What?, _was all the anthromorph could think after hearing what she had to say, staring at the back of the girl's head with his left eye partially squinted: _first_ this child gaping in awe of this hedgehog, then started laughing at him for no good reason, then she seems to resent his very existence, and now she was recruiting him for somekind of covert ops mission as if they were allies. What was the matter with this human? Shadow rapidly shook his head with his eyes shut."And just what makes you think I'm suddenly going to help you with nothing in return?" he demanded, trying to muster up what little poise he had left as he trailed her into the throneroom.

"Oh, there will be something in return..." Azula reassured the black hedgehog, wiping the curtains aside as she entered, with the creature brushing them aside a split-second later,"I still haven't told you what I know about Dr. Robotnik, have I? Once you assist me, I shall tell you everything I've seen about him, Space Colony ARK, as well as the Seven Chaos Emeralds..."

The very fact that this princess managed to reveal her knowledge of Eggman's last name, the space station, and the emeralds in two sentences without giving away any crucial information told Shadow that she was truly not just toying with him; and it was clear that his inward surprise was the desired reaction of the princess, as she turned to see the hedgehog's expression, smirking as he somehow read his encrypticey plain face.

"Besides, I believe you owe be a bit of good will, seeing as how it clearly _your_ fault that Ty Lee's been kidnapped; with your speed you could've easily taken her to a safe place instead of just leaving her on the cold unforgiving floor to await her captors," she breathed with a sort of acidic apathy.

And now this Azula was trying to nudge at his conscience, which naturally angered the black hedgehog; still, she was painfully right, and the statement seemed to vex something in the back of his brain, probably his subconscious acquainting this 'Ty Lee' with a particular human girl he once held dear in his heart, although the girl in front of him appeared ignorant of the extent of her reasoning.

With the talking hedgehog successfully at her service, the firebender scanned the throne room itself."By the spirits, you 'weren't kidding when you said that this room was 'trashed'..." Azula tapped her chin,"Now, where was it again? Ah yes, this way..." she supposedly said to herself, walking toward the right side of the room, the hedgehog reluctantly following.

Shadow patiently crossed three rows of giant metal columns before the princess stopped before the wall at the far right end of the dark room; he watched her feel along the metal wall's surface, apparently searching for a hidden switch of some sort.

Azula eventually found just that - a little hole in the wall much too discreet to be seen casually; she then pull her hand back and jabbed her palm against it. Upon doing so, her azure flame was shot into the whole, bolting through tiny pipes and turning gears and undoing a lock that only the most important members of the Fire Nation knew was there. A section of the metal next to the hole separated itself from the rest of the wall, receding backwards and sliding behind the wall, revealing a secret stairway trailing down into a long tunnel, line with mounted gas-fueled lanterns.

"Where do these stairs lead to?" inquired Shadow.

"An underground bunker in case of invasion," Azula explained,"The Dai Li are earthbenders, so they would've instinctively fled into here. We will rescue Ty Lee, and hunt down whoever is behind this espionage, thus potentially saving the Fire Nation which will naturally restore my honor; and, of course, you receive the date you've requested."

"Well then, I guess we ought to get going..." Shadow accepted his objective.

Azula nodded, and took the first step down, but then stopped..."Oh wait, how rude of me: we've been discussing our priorities so much and haven't even introduced ourselves. Well, you seem to be aware of who I am already, so I suppose all that's left is _your _name..." Azula turned to the hedgehog with a sort of sincere smirk, waiting expectantly.

He sighed..."Call me Shadow."

With that, they began their descent.

* * *

Ty Lee shuffled her body through the hall, panting in fatigue.

She was pretty sure her that agent had broken her rib-_ow! _Okay, now she was _really _he had broken her rib! It didn't matter though - Azula was gone, and the Kyoshi warrior didn't have the time or energy to look for her. Right now, she had to find someone who could help her, which would of been _so much_ easier if _Azula_ hadn't fired everybody in the whole palace; her only hope was to run into one of Team Avatar, like Katara or Toph, or Sokka or-

Her thought was instantly cut off as she smacked right into the decorative armor of someone that could help...

"Zuko!" Ty Lee blurted out upon realization.

The young Fire Lord stumbled."Ty Lee? What are you ding here? Where is Azula?" he asked genuinely.

Her memory flashing back, Ty Lee clutched Zuko's shoulder plates."Oh Zuko! It's horrible! I was taking Azula to her room, when she suddenly said she she saw something and ran after it, and then I ran after her, an-and out of nowhere a Dai Li guy cam and attacked us; he must've knocked me out cause' I woke up and my rib hurts and...!"

"Ty Lee, calm down!" Zuko tried, gripping her arms,"What are you trying to say?"

"The Dai Li, Zuko! They're back! Azula banished them but now they're back and, and I think they took Azula! We have to save her!" Ty Lee explained hastily.

At this sudden information, the monarch simply sighed."Calm down, you're safe now..."

"Well-well yeah, of course I'm safe but Azu-!"

With his hands still holding her shoulders, the firebender quickly spun the girl around and wrapped his right arm around her neck, covering her mouth and nose with his left hand. The confused and terrified Ty Lee struggled to get free, flailing her arms wildly and thrashing her body; but the Fire Lord's grip was as unbreakable as his cold emotionless expression, not even looking at her as his arm constricted her throat. With the increasing lack of air, her resistance weakened and weakened until the poor girl succumbed to his lock, losing consciousness altogether.

Having finally released her from his chokehold, Zuko let the sleeping Ty Lee hang in his arms."Stupid girl; could've ruin everything..." he mumbled glibly as he flipped her motionless body onto his shoulder and silently carried her away in the opposite direction.

* * *

"So you think that just because these 'Dai Li' are earthbenders, they would just naturaly flee somewhere underground?" Shadow asked Azula as they continued through the carved tunnel which was supported by metal girders.

"It's simple elementary, really.." the firebender explained as they passed a few magma pits,"A bender will flee into whatever environment he or she feels the most secure: for my kind, behind a flame; for airbenders, the sky; for waterbenders, underwater. The agents have the tactical advantage down here."

"There's still something I don't think you've considered..." Shadow replied.

"Don't be ridiculous; I'm considering everything..." Azula dismissed.

The black hedgehog increased his pace so he was walking parallel to the girl."Have you considered that those earthbenders might not have fled down this passage?"

Azula scoffed."well of course they did. This is the perfect escape, why wouldn't they take advantage of it? she inquired in a teacher-to-student tone.

The hedgehog glared."Perhaps because there is no way they could even know about this place. We went through a secret tunnel, remember? The only way they could've known is if someone showed it to them."

At this remark, Azula almost immediately turned her face away from Shadow, doing her best to hide any sheepishness from the hedgehog, though her face had not the slightest trace of it."Yes, I suppose that's possible..."

"And that person that showed them would have to of been a somewhat powerful political figure - royalty even - seeing as how it would be the only cradible reason that person would know about it..." Shadow went on.

Azula resisted the urge to tighten her lips."Indeed, how...observant of you..."

"Of course that individual would had to of been suffering from some degree of mental instability to submit that kind of information to such people, know full well the potential consequences of such actions..." the hedgehog persisted.

Azula's cheek cringed. _Oh come on! It's like he's trying to rub it in my face! _"So what are you trying to say?" she demanded sharply.

Shadow sighed."I'm trying to get you to understand how improbable it is that those earthbenders used this route to escape because they couldn't have known it," he crossed his arms,"Unless, of course, there's something you're not telling me..." he implied half expectantly.

Needless to say, the firebender was feeling a tad uncomfortable; clearly, this hedgehog was not as easily won over by words as the cronies she was used to work with. A rather ironic memory was tickled by this particular query - that one moment where she and Zuko had just returned home from the great victory at Be Sing Se, she having asked the then prince if he thought there could be any way the "deceased" Avatar could've possibly survived the battle, essentially asking if he were hiding something, and after a strong ten seconds he lies to her - only now the tables were turned, and unlike her brother, the girl knew too well this diminutive alien would tell if she tried to deceive him; but she also knew that if she picked the truth, the hedgehog would want nothing to do with her. Five seconds had passed: her only option was to once again prod at his morality...

"You know, we could just spent the afternoon about who the culprit is while my _best friend_ is being tortured by terrorists - your call, 'Shadow'..." Azula smoothly reminded, feigning an offended tone.

Shadow seemed taken off-guard; his lips bunted together as he removed his eyes from the firebender.

Azula was tempted to smile in victory: good people were always the easiest to manipulate...of course, the embracing of the thought erased her temptation - wasn't _she_ supposed to be good now?

As the two neared a fork in the tunnel, in it split into two separate tunnels, a high-pitched noise was heard from down the right subtunnel.

Shadow and Azula exchanged alerted glances, and quickly but quietly ran to the beginning of the left sub-tunnel. and waited for the source of the noise to pass by.

In an odd bit of _deja vu_ that was unknown to the two, out popped War Minister Qin past the corner, whistling a tune with his arms folded around his back, completely ignorant of their presence.

_"Who's that?"_ whispered Shadow.

_"That's War Minister Qin..." _Azula answered in a tone that alluded to her own surprise.

_"Is he dangerous?"_ Shadow asked in a preemptive tone.

Azula quietly snorted._"That's negligible - he's not even a fire-"_

Having heard what he wanted, the black hedgehog dashed forward and lunged at the man, kicking him in the back and pinning the human stomach-first to the ground before he even knew what happened.

"_dwuahah!_ Wh-who-what-!?" the blindsided Qin babbled, trying to lift his head, but he was abruptly stopped by Shadow.

"Don't you dare turn around; I have questions, you _will_ answer them," the hedgehog warned, his left hand clamped onto the back of Qin's head and right hand pulling on the old human's right forearm.

"My goodness, you really need to tune your people skills..." the female firebender patronized, pacing around and in front of Qin and kneeling down,"My apologies, minister. my anonymous associate here is a tad insecure about his height; would you mind amending a few inquiries?" requested in a very soft tone, although the sound her voice clearly did not put the war minister at ease.

"PRINCESS AZULA!? I thought you were imprisoned!?" the old man squawked.

"Oh please, I've been living here for the past three days now quit the small talk: what are you doing down here?" Azula asked with a calm intensity.

"um-ere-Oh, y-you know, checking the caves, inspecting the magma pits, ministering war and so forth..." Qin stuttered.

"There is no war, _war_ minister..." Azula caustically reminded,"Why are you really here?"

"Answer her..." Shadow edged tugging the man's arm a little harder.

"Ow! wh-What I meant was that I've been waiting it out down here since the Fire Lord ordered his military to prepare for somekind of invasion; I-I don't know who was supposed to be invading though but, well, how did it turn? Can I come out now-?"

Qin was cut off as his invisible attacker jerked his arm yet harder.

"Will you just ask him already!?" Shadow glared at the girl impatiently.

"Unwind your quills, I'm getting to it..." Azula shrugged him off,"minister, have you happened to catch a glimpse of a few Dai Li agents during your subterranean stroll?"

Qin blinked rather nervously."You mean one of those weirdos in black green robes from Ba Sing Se? Um, maybe...I've uh, seen a lot of things like that down here that fit the description..."

"We are _awfully close _to a lava pit..." Shadow almost growled.

Qin squeaked."I don't know why they're down here, alright!? I just see them going in and out and I never ask any questions...!"

Azula raised an eyebrow."You say that in the progressive sense; do they regularly use this tunnel?"

Qin shook his restrained head as best he could." I honestly, _honestly_ don't know anything! All I can tell you is that there's this wall about a few lefts down with an Earth Kingdom symbol engraved on it; they _always_ go through that wall! You can't miss it!"

Azula nodded."I see...Release him, Shadow, he's given us enough information."

Shadow roboticly ended his grip and left the cowardly human on the ground."Time to go." the hedgehog said before skating down the path the old man directed.

"Wha-Shadow, wait!" Azula hastily called for him; but she sighed - he was gone...

The war minister arose to his knees, turning around to see only a trail of smoke leading to where his unknown attacker had apparently went."Who was that?"

The fem-firebender didn't bother looking at him."Trust me - you don't even want to know..." she affirmed before running after Shadow. She was seriously going to have to find a way for herself to catch up to such speed...

Now left to his lonesome. War Minister Qin stood there on his feet, just as he was roughly two minutes ago. He briefly considered simply continuing his stroll as if nothing happened as during the Day of Black Sun, but he chose instead to quickly walk out of the cave and go home. He was full convinced that tune he whistled was cursed.

It took the former princess a while, but she eventually made it to the spot Qin described, with Shadow standing next to it with his arms crossed.

"You humans are too slow..." the hedgehog looked away in embarrassment.

"I'm sure when you can run faster then an eelhound, many things appear that way..." Azula responded.

The two stared at the wall itself, with the Earth Kingdom insignia as foretold.

"So what now?" the hedgehog asked rhetorically.

"Now? _Now,_ we get to the bottom of this..." the firebender resoluted.

"Fair enough. You might want to stand back..." Shadow informed her, stepping backwards to gain some space, preparing to spin-dash through the wall.

"Wait!" Azula stopped him, flinging her hand in front of him.

"What is it?" Shadow queried.

Without answering, the teen calmly paced in front of the wall, feeling it a little. She looked back at her associate with a droll expression."You know, Shadow, for your small stature, I must admit that you do not seem to grasp the concept of subtlety...'

The hedgehog cocked an eyebrow, and exasperatedly, arose to his feet, gesturing for her to demonstrate how to "quietly", break through a solid stone wall.

Azula silently accepted his challenge, and rose her index finger and middle finger; she conjured a blue flame and thrusted it into the wall. creating a small ahil of sparks as she drug the flame along the rock, forming a large molten rectangle in the stone, the bottom of which touch the ground. when the crafted door was completed, she took a step to the side and gestured for the hedgehog to help her push.

While shadow was still offended by her remark, he nodded and walked beside the former princess. the two strenuously forced the stone slab forward with their hands and shoulders, shoving their way into another space on the other side and walking around the slab.

But when they did, they were met with a rather peculiar sight, more so for Azula.

The rest of the tunnel was very cleanly smoothed out into a sort of half-cylinder, lined by lanterns at the corner between the wall and floor.

"What is this place?" Shadow inquired.

Azula blinked."That's...what I'd like to know..."

* * *

The Fire Lord tentatively pulled the blanket over the unconscious Ty Lee's chest.

Zuko had carefully removed the girl's kamino armor, undone her hair piece, wiped away her dense makeup, and placed her under the covers of her own guest bed, as if to make it appear as though the former gymnast was taking a nap. At least, if no one notices her absence, she herself will hopefully assume her apparent encounter with a Dai Li agent to have been a dream.

Zuko was getting weary of covering up all evidence of his new personnel, he wished he could just tell the whole world about them and their amazing talents. And honestly, he did not understand why he shouldn't: it would certainly take a load off of the monarch's back as he felt rather guilty for hiding this secret fro, all his friends and family...and Uncle Iroh as well...How happy Aang would be to find out that the Lord of the Fire Nation has selected the finest Earth Kingdom soldiers to safeguard his life and permit them to intermingle themselves among his government. It would definitely be good new to the rest of the world.

But, as he silently back away from the sleeping Ty Lee and toward the exit, the scarred monarch knew it would not bode well. He didn't actually know why himself, Long Feng insisted that his presence - really his _existence_ - be kept a secret at all costs, even from the Avatar, as it would result in utter chaos.

_Chaos is __**bad**__...Order is __**good**__..._

Zuko softly shut the metal door, laying his hand upon it as a small gesture of shame.

It will all turn out well in the end. Zuko knew it; Zuko knew because Long Feng says it will. So he took a strong breath and allowed his guilt to slip away, replacing it with a look of leadership - a look that Long Feng would be proud to see.

Unfortunately, that Look all but vaporized upon his turning around, as he now was staring into the very last face he wanted to see after committing such a heinous act...

Sokka, still clad in his space suit and clearly unfazed by Zuko's shocked expression, stared at his friend with little to no emotion whatsoever."Zuko, what were you just doing in Ty Lee's bedroom?"

The Fire Lord blinked, looking like a deerpanther caught in the path of a tank."Uh...you-You mean this is _Ty Lee's_ bedroom? They, uh, all look the same..." he attempted to cover himself.

"Well, I would certainly think it is," replied Sokka,"as that is in fact Ty Lee herself who is clearly sleeping on that bed...in that room..."

_He __saw__ that!? How much did he see!?_

The firebender who was not nearly as good as talking his way out of inconvenient situations as his sister twiddled his thumbs helplessly."uh...Yes that...that room definitely has a bed within it..."

Sokka kept his stoic gaze...then suddenly smiled."Come on, man! I know you're still upset about Mai dumping you, but really? Flirting with Ty Lee of all people? I know you're better than that!" he beamed.

The monarch's blindsided face was replaced by an even more blindsided one."whauh-What!?"

The teen warrior chuckled in an almost fatherly manner as he wrapped his poofy space-sleeved arm around the back of the scarred teen's neck."Listen, there are better ways to cope deal with stuff like this without resorting to the other extreme; trust me - I've mingled with _way_ more ladies than you..." Sokka assured."My advice is that you and Mai put whatever you two got between you in the past. Whadda' ya say we all go to the fancy pancy-est restaurant in the whole volcano, where we can all sit down and talking our problems out, huh?" Sokka nudged, knocking on the Fire Lord's shoulder plate.

Though rather disturbed by the warrior's stupidity, Zuko was satisfied his friend did not suspect the worst as he usually would. Thankfully, the firebender will have had to knock out only _one_ person for today...

A they departed from the door, hanging eachother's arm around eachother, the Fire Lord smiled."Yes of course, it's brilliant, Sokka; but, I have reason to think that restaurant idea might not be available, at least not for now..."

* * *

The Avatar air-scooter'd down one the streets of the palace city with a cheery smile. Every chance he had, Aang, loved to head down to his favorite hair stylist to get his head periodically waxed; and as of now, his next appointment was long overdue.

The air-scooter vanished as Aang strolled into the parlor. Oddly at first, he saw no one to greet him.

"Hello! Mr. Fooka Wa Wa? It's me again! I've been gone for a while!" Aang called, thinking that the proprietor was in the back or something. But after patient standing before the receptionist's desk for a minute or so (ringing the bell immaturely). it was obvious that no one was in.

Walking out of the shop with a small frown, the Avatar paced around the fashion district to see if any other store was offering a head-wax; strangely as he peeked into each building, the same result occurred - all the places were empty.

Come to think of it, as Aang trekked through the street itself, he noticed that there were no people whatsoever throughout what he recalled to be one of the most bustling districts in the whole Fire Nation; if if he, his friends, their family members, and royal guards were the only people on the mount...

And then it dawned on the Avatar: there _was_ no one else up here - on the night of Dr. Eggman;s threat, Zuko had sent all the residents of the palace city to Ember Island in the case of an invasion, which wasn't exactly a prison sentence, but that also meant that all the businessmen were effectively cut off from their commerce. A gross inconvenience indeed, but it seemed worth it given what could've happened.

With this revelation, Aang spread the wing of his staff and took off, heading back to the palace itself. As he banked through the air, however, his good eye caught a glimpse of a figure ontop of a building; Aang curiously swerved back down and landed onto that building, and who he saw on that building should of surprised him but it didn't

On the edge of the curved red tile sat Mai, her arms wrapped around her shins as she stared thoughtlessly into the horizon.

"Mai? What're you doing up here?" asked Aang out of politeness.

Oddly enough, Mai wasn't surprised either to hear something touch down behind her; she didn't even have to wait for the Avatar to speak to tell who it was."Wow, you couldn't've asked a more cliche' response if you tried..." she deadpanned.

Even after getting to know the girl, some inward part of the Avatar always winced at her pessimism."Well, what else could I ask? You disappeared the night after we saved the world again; it's been three days since me, Zuko, your parents, _anybody_ has seen you," he explained.

"I know how long it's been, Avatar Obvious, I can count," the knife wielder retorted,"I was actually going for a week or so; thanks for blowing it..."

"But why would you want to disappear for a week?" Aang asked sincerely.

Mai roller her eyes at the query."Seriously, that one was so cliche it hurt...'

Aang sighed, knowing that small talk was meaningless to her; he stepped to the edge and sat cross-legged next to her, embracing the expanse of the horizon."Ya' know , you are speaking to easily the most spiritual person on the planet, with unlimited access to the timeless wisdom of an endless cycle of preincarnations. if you like, Icould help you open a few chakras, learn the meaning of life, maybe even get you in touch with one of my past lives; you seem like like you'd get along with Kyoshi pretty well..." he mused.

Mai actually looked at the Avatar."Yeah? how's 'getting along' with Princess Azula working out?"

This time, the Avatar winced for real."...I know you have the right not to be around her - everyone does - I just hope you have the heart to forgive her for turning on you like that..."

"Oh gimme a break, it was _me_ who turned on _her_, alright? Any girl would've freaked like that if her best friends betrayed her like I did," she disregarded, with what the Avatar could have imagined as a hint of regret,"That's not why I'm up here; it's because of _Zuko_..."

"He just wanted an intimate moment with you, that's all..." Aang tried.

"That's not just it," Mai cut him off resuming her view of the ocean, only now her blank stare was usurped by a steady glare, her eyes glowing like embers."His been acting so weird lately - so cold and formal, and _patronizing._ He used to be different from all the Fire Nation guys, he never cared about 'behaving himself' or doing whatever's 'politically expedient', but now that's all he ever talks about. It's like he's not even the same guy I saw at Ba Sing Se..." she sounded like she wanted to go on, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

The Avatar continued to behold the gradient of sky and ocean."Ever since I restored balance to the world - the first time I mean - I knew just how different our lives were going to be; those days of adventure are passed us; and, in some way, all of us changed to meet the requirements of the shift, and Zuko is no different."

"If you've lived in the Fire Nation long enough, you know that all 'change' does is 'shift' the balance of power," she said,"Besides, just because _Zuko_ has to be so different doesn't mean I have to like the new him."

Aang arose to his feet."Maybe you haven't given it a try: how about we arrange a big dinner. No generals or ambassadors or anything, just friends and family? We can all just talking out our woes." he offered.

Mai glared back at the airbender."The way you ask that, it sounds like you guys've already planned this out..."

The Avatar shrugged."Technically, I was minding my own business; it was Toph who was supposed to find you, but I'm kinda glad I found you first since Toph probably would've agreed with you about running away..."

_"Yeah, probably...!" _ called the blind earthbender from the street.

Mai sighed her normal sigh, and arose to her feet."I guess it's worth a shot; I just wish this'll bring Zuko out of whatever he's in..."

Aang smiled reassuringly."Don't worry, it's gonna be a great afternoon, something I'm sure will re-spark your bond with Zuko. I mean, seriously, when was the last time he had a chance to just wind down and unearth some hidden truth?..."

* * *

It was all supposed to be so simple - track down some renegades, bring them to justice, and regain your honor back - that was to be the end of it; that is, right up until Azula found this base - no, not some improvised hideout, a _base_ - a base directly beneath the Fire Nation Palace no less, and an active base as well.

As the two ever so silently continued through the base, they would pass by many rooms which, to their slight alarm, revealed through a partially open door far more Dai Li agents then they previously imagined going about their business - one room was full of new recruits training, another was an archive of records and information that was constantly being updated by members, and another room - this one was quite peculiar for the two - was full of young men lined in rows, all wearing the same elegant red and gold robes; at the end of the room was a woman on an elevated section of the room who stared down upon the group of men.

"Hello...I am Dee Joo...Welcome to our wonderful capitol..." she said to the men.

_"Hello...I am Dee Joo...Welcome to our wonderful capitol..." _the young men repeated mechanically.

"They're being programmed..." Shadow observed.

"Programmed? How it that possible?" Azula asked.

"Must be a form of hypnoses," the black hedgehog considered,"do you want to do something?"

The firebender shook her head."No, we don't want to give ourselves away that easily. We need to find where they secure prisoners; surely they need a place to put witnesses..." she said, walking away.

Shadow snorted." 'witnesses' she says..." he muttered following her.

Azula stopped and turned."I'm sorry, was that supposed to mean something?" she inquired.

"Wouldn't that war minister have counted as a witness?" Shadow reminded." He spotted them several times entering and exiting this cave for the duration of his stay - about three days; why didn't they capture him yet? And more importantly..." his eyes narrowed intensely,"Why has the minister not _once_ tried to alert anyone of their presence?"

An agonizing chill crawled up Azula's spine; but there was not a _chance_ she would allow this sentient mammal to detect it! "Well, obviously the Dai Li couldn't just kidnapp such a decorated government figure. And it isn't as though Qin could tell anyone; he was locked down under the palace for three days, and they most likely threatened his life each time - you know, like how _you_ did? Now, incase you've forgotten, my _friend_ is in imminent danger, just thought I'd remind you..." she retorted frustratedly, playing the guilt-card again.

Shadow closed his eyes."It's funny you mentioned that, since you yourself don't seem to be in any rush to her rescue..." he replied calmly.

The girl's innards cringed: he completely redirected the guilt-card back at her! She involuntarily quickened her pace.

The hedgehog's eyes rolled."Well, it's nice to see you finally giving two cents about some other than yourself. We both know the only reason you keep bringing up your so-called 'friend' is for the sake of leverage for me to help you win back public approval, and frankly, I still believe she got up and left by herself. I assure you: your information about Eggman is sufficient incentive. Don't push it..." he warned.

The fire princess felt like she just lost a duel with Uncle Iroh. She decided it would be best to to simply settle for the option the hedgehog had given her; at this point, he was being merciful.

"Well, I suppose since you've established yourself as a partner rather than an assistant, what do _you_ want to do?" Azula asked politely.

Azula's _partner_ took a moment to think."We should look for the communication room; find out what other bases they might have."

"Agreed," Azula nodded.

* * *

Cold, dark, and lonely - those are the words that Poon often heard describe the Fire Nation's capitol prison; though the guard never truly heeded those opinions until recently. Indeed, it was very close to winter solstice, indicated by the nippy air, so yes it was cold; the only source of light throughout the ancient complex were a series of lightened torches mounted on the wall, and if not diligently replaced, it got pretty dark; but only following the passing of Sozin's Comet and the end of the war did it finally become lonely - very, _very_ lonely.

Why so lonely one might ask? Well, it was simple: after the devastating defeat of Fire Lord Ozai and embarrassing dethroning of the newly crowned Fire Lord Azula (most weren't entirely sure whether Azula was actually crowned before being dethroned, but Poon supposed it didn't matter), an understandably large group of people in the Fire Nation openly rejected the treacherous Prince Zuko's claim as the new Fire Lord, the bulk of which included many colonist, countless soldiers, several army officials and, of course, _prison guards._ Dozens of guards, a lot of Poon's friends and underlings, belligerently refused to house their beloved Phoenix King, whom they themselves swore under oath to carry out their duties in his name; some went so far as to live in this very complex as prisoners of their own choice for the sake of preserving their honor. So technically Poon wasn't entirely lonely, as he routinely passed his former friends in their respective cells; of course, the fact that all these men forfeited their freedom and _he_ did not earned him distrustful scowls from the self-imposed inmates, hence them being 'former' friends.

Honestly, Poon saw no reason to condemn himself to such an over-zealous display, despite himself formerly being in full support of Fire Lord's war machine. Again, the key word here is _formerly_, seeing as how his personal resistance to the new "Peace and Harmony Movement" made no difference, Poon has found it more profitable to change his political standpoint to fit the Avatar's agenda. Most would call him a sellout, but again, most of those who said were behind bars.

Poon didn't have the time to dwell on his social status: it was way past lunch time, and he was carrying a plate of cruddy food for the tower's _newest _prisoner - the alleged "man from another world", who according to gossip had almost killed the Avatar and taken over the world. Honestly the guard couldn't grasp how such a pathetic, fat loser was able to get anywhere close to what not even the Fire Nation Armada could achieve; heck, the kid got struck by _lightning_ and walked away from it! But hey, it was just a story - a yarn even - the firebender had simply written 'em off as a lunatic; of course, with the Dragon of the West's escape in mind, Poon's been wrong before, not that it could apply to this new guy: he wasn't even a _bender_, how the heck could _he_ escape?

Poon chuckled as he was but a foot from the door, purposely making sure it could be heard by the new inmate."Hey, Tubby! Sorry I forgot to feed ya!" Poon sneared as he unlocked the metal door...

...the cell was empty...

Poon froze in shock."What the!?" he stammered, dropping the food as he dashed into the room, frantically unlocking the actual cage and halting inside."Wha!? Wh-Where'd the Egg-guy go!?" he exclaimed, whipping his head across the floor, right before something big and fat fell onto him, slamming his face against the stone floor and knocking him out...

Robotnik sat there on top of the guard's head for a second or two before rising to his feet, dusting his hands triumphantly."That's Egg_man_ to you..." he sneered, taking the guard's keys and calmly walking out of the cage.

Well, that's step one down, now all the doctor had to figure out was how to reclaim his confiscated suit (he was current;y dressed in rags...), escape this primitive prison unscathed, and get back to the ARK. The last step was sure to solve itself, as his loyal robot army (what's left of it anyways) shall eventually come down looking for their master. He really didn't need to retrieve his suit though, as he had countless spares stored within his flagship...that the Avatar destroyed...

...No matter, Eggman was used to this sort of thing, and a trivial matter such as the Chaos Emerald spread across the world while he was completely bereft of his technology wasn't going to deter _this_ megalomaniac from world domination. After all, it was a fresh new start with a fresh new arch nemesis - one who was still ignorant of the scientist's experience with belligerent protagonists such as him; and frankly, Ivo knew it could've turned out much, _much _worse - at least Shadow wasn't here...

As he exited the room, Eggman noticed that the guard had left the doctor's lunch sprawled across the floor. Not a picky eater, the doctor knelt down and took the bean bun from off the filthy floor and took a bite out of it."Hm, not bad..." he observed before grabbing the metal door and slamming it shut, locking the guard in with his own key.

Humming the lyrics to the 'E.G.G.M.A.N.' song, the scientist continued to munch on his meal as he began unlocking the other doors housing other inmates. Prisoner after prisoner looked up in surprise to see his/her cell door unlocked by an unknown person; and since most of the inmates had their cages carelessly left open by Poon, they just strolled on out and started to collectively cheer and laugh as they used their firebending to blast the locks off of moe cell doors, freeing even more inmates.

The napping Ozai was disturbed out of his slumber by a familiar squeaking sound; he turned his head to see that someone had open his cell's door. The defeated monarch lazily arose to his feet and paced to the still locked door of his cage, grasping the bars as he peered out of the room, trying to make out what was happening.

"Yeah! Prison break!" a random inmate unknowingly answered him as several prisoners sped past his doorway, the sound of fireballs shooting in various directions.

* * *

Two hours after receiving the message, Long Feng remained seated on his mat, meditating.

Suddenly, he was brought out of his trance by the sound of a stone wall collapsing; an average Dai Li agent ran in an stopped before him. "Sir, it's an emergency!"

Despite being mentally stirred, Long Feng refused to physically acknowledge the agent's dramatizm."Unless you were discovered by the Avatar, no, it is not an emergency," he dismissed.

"n-No, you don't understand! While monitoring the throneroom, me and my squad were attacked by somekind of...this animal! It took us all on and wiped the floor with us!"

At the word _'animal'_ Long Feng's eyes shot open."What...kind of animal exactly?" he inquired as softly as possible, slowly turning his head to see the agent, who shrugged.

"Well, it was small and spiky; it was like an echidna or a porcupine or a..."

"A _hedgehog?"_ Long Feng pressured, shooting up to meet the agent.

The unnamed earthbender rubbed his chin."...er, actually, I think it _was_ a hedgehog; how'd you-"

Long Feng seized the agent by his collar."Gather the squads! Mobilize the men! We need to capture that blue hedgehog at all costs!" he commanded, shoving the agents aside as he rushed out to the left wall of his loft; using earthbending to reveal a cylindrical space which he sped into, forcing the platform downwards like an elevator shaft.

"But-But sir!" the agent called futility, as his master was gone,"It...wasn't blue..."

* * *

The hedgehog and princess stood on either end of a door way into a room full of people organizing scrolls.

Shadow turned to Azula and silently communicated with his fingers to be quiet while he takes care of the men, to which Azula nods. The hedgehog then raised three fingers...then only two...then only one...

In the next instant, she saw Shadow bolt into the room, hearing all sorts of screams and thuds and rocks missing their target as she casually leaned against the wall, nonchalantly checking her nails...

"Clear," the voice of Shadow announced after a second or two of no sounds.

The firebender turned into the identified communication room, noting the black hedgehog in the rear left corner standing next to the incapacitated workers tied together with a couple of long scrolls.

She scoffed."_I _wouldn't have made that much noise..." she boasted.

He snorted."Whatever..."

Now with the men dealt with, the two were free to scan the room itself: there were metal pipes coming down from the ceiling that lined the left and right sides of the room, the ends curving above deep trays, which had scrolls in them, and next to each scroll was a lantern with a flat glass top that slanted in their direction. At the end of the room was a large atlas of the known world.

"So what are we doing here exactly?" the firebender inquired.

"We're here for that," the hedgehog answered, pointing to the atlas.

Unlike most atlases which colored certain parts of the world based on political affiliation, this one was completely colorless, and there were dozens of small Earth Kingdom insignias painted practically all over the map.

Shadow placed his finger on one of them."These symbols must represent where they have a base or exert control over a certain area," he explained.

Azula half squinted at the statement."But that's ludicrous. Look, these symbols are on almost every town in the Earth Kingdom and even the Fire Nation; that would have to mean that..." she paused.

Shadow waited for her to finish."That what?" although he already knew the answer...

"...that...that-That's impossible! There's no way the Dai Li could be controlling this much of the world, let alone the _Fire Nation - _the Fire Nation! Th-They don't have the power, the numbers! For them to seize this degree of influence is- it's impossible!" she persisted.

Shadow raised an eyebrow."Who exactly are these Dai Li? Where did they originate?"

The firebender sighed."They _used_ to be the secret police of Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capitol; but they abused their control over the people, and so the Earth King dissolved the department," she explained.

"Guess that was a mistake..." Shadow added.

Azula rubbed her sinus."Apparently so, but that _still_ doesn't explain how they could take control over the entire Earth Kingdom! I'll admit, Ba Sing Se is a large city, but it's not nearly enough to house a continent worth of soldiers!" she rambled on frustratedly.

The hedgehog rubbed his round chin."Perhaps it's not just them; they could be having some help..."

" 'Help'?" Who would want to help _them_?" Azula queried skeptically.

"I don't think it's question of cooperation: I've been traveling across that continent, and many areas are plagued with violent revolutions; hundreds of earthbenders causing chaos and anarchy in defiance of the new world order. It could be that these symbols just represent where they have spies in the governments or where they have successfully started a revolt through some manner of war mongering," he explained.

Azula held her own chin."So the Dai Li are manipulating the Earth Kingdom people into antagonizing the Fire Nation colonies in a deliberate effort to reignite the War. But why would they want that?"

"I have a better question..." the black hedgehog proposed,"What...are they doing in their enemy nation's capitol?"

As soon as Shadow said that, the door behind them slammed shut, causing them to whip around in surprise.

"They've found us!" Azula cried.

An instant later, plumes of smoke spewed out of small holes in the walls that they didn't notice, quickly consuming the room in a gray haze.

The two immediately covered their mouths and noses, but it did little to prevent them from succumbing to the polluted air.

The firebender coughed."We...need...to escape!" she grunted between hacks.

While Shadow wasn't coughing, he could not inhale at all."Prepare yourself!" With that, the hedgehog curled into a ball and charged his Spin Dash and zoomed for the closed door.

The black and red ball blasted out the other side, destroying the stone obstacle, met with a horde of Dai Li agents lining down either end of the hallway.

"Freeze! You're out far outnumbered!" The agent closest to Shadow generically warned.

Of course that left more than enough time for the former princess to not only skid out of the smoking room, but think of a reply to the earthbender's threat."Indeed, but if I may paraphrase my dear Uncle, you are further outmatched!"

Azula spun her body rapidly, surrounding her and Shadow in a fiery azure halo that desintergrated the hale of rock projectiles; she then flung her arms in either direction, causing the halo to burst into a destructive wave that knocked back all the agent simultaneously.

"You and your darn subtlety...!" Shadow growled.

"You want to argue or _run!?_" Azula demanded, kicking off into a mad sprint.

The hedgehog snorted, silently patronizing the girl's "slow speed" by actually running on his feet next to her.

On their way, dozens of earthbenders came through the walls and assaulted the two with a barrage of flying rocks and erupting slabs.

Shadow swerved around the slabs and seamlessly dodged any projectiles as he barreled into mutiple agents at once with his Homing Attack, intercepting any agents that might have a clear shot at Azula.

Azula cut through their defenses with thin waves of fire and countered with rapid blast that further cleared the way for Shadow to forge ahead.

With their combined might, they breezed through the agents like they weren't even there: the Child Prodigy and Ultimate Lifeform were unbeatable...at least for the time being - the agent's numbers were indeed overwhelming for the two fighters, and they had to escape this labyrinth while they had the energy to do so...

* * *

"CONTAIN THE PRISONERS!" the warden shouted, although there wasn't much need to say anything, as the guards were already engaging in a ferocious firefight with the inmates. The facility was in complete chaos; volleys of fire balls soared in any and every possible direction, lighting the halls with unconcroled fire and making the entire building echo with a thunder of explosions; people on either side used the cell door as cover, although that tactic worked more to the inmates advantage, as the action inadvertently unleashed even more enraged inmates into the battle.

The prisoners had the overall edge: a good portion of the prison's roster of inmates happened to be former soldiers that rebeld agains their new Fire Lord, as well as old guards that gave up there job for the same reason, and they were for the most part more experienced in combat than the new staff that replaced them.

And somehow, one man managed to slip past it all neither detected nor scathed (well, the latter wasn't true - there was an itty bitty flame at the end of his left mustache, which he put out with licked fingers); the doctor had grown quite adept at fleeing from dangerous things, and was on his way to the exit when he just had to round that _one corner..._

Ming and the two other guards skidded to a halt upon the sight of the genius, who froze in place as well.

"Hold it right there, fatty!" the fem-firebender warned as she and her partners shifted into a stance.

The man deemed 'fatty' yelped, raising his hands where they could see them."Don't shoot! I'm unarmed!"

As Ming made to arrest him, the guard on her left suddenly gripped her shoulder."Hang on, Ming! Isn't that the guy?" he asked rather apprehensively.

"What guy?" Ming asked.

"Y-Ya know! The Egg-guy! The Guy from another world!" he announced in awe.

"...Hey, yeah, you're right...!" the guard on her right realized, his posture weakening by the second.

Along with his arms, Eggman raised an eyebrow.

"So what if it is him? We still have to detain him, now let go of me!" Ming demanded.

"I heard he can disappear and reappear in any part of the world..." the left guard related nervously.

"_I_ heard his bending is so powerful, he could've destroyed the entire capitol in one strike!" the right guard added, quivering in his boots.

Upon this revelation, a genuine drop of sweat slid down Ming's cheek."d-Don't be ridiculous! That's not even possible..." she responded, struggling to keep her stance.

"y-Yeah, but, how do you know?" the right guard inquired,"He's from another world! We can't apply any kind of knowledge of bending we know of to this guy!"

As he listened to their paranoia, a sneaky smile spread across the genius's face that elevated his mustache."HAH HAH!" he sounded, gaining their utmost attention,"You pathetic fools have no idea who you're dealing with! You have incurred my unbearable wrath; and now! You shall witness firsthand my limitless cosmic power!" he thundered, spreading his fingers before them.

The hysterical guards cowered at the scientist fictional might...until Ming stood straight."Wait a minute..."

Eggman's false confidence faltered.

"...How do we know the Avatar didn't take your bending away just like Ozai's?" she questioned sharply.

Eggman's rarely visible eyes blinked twice."er-uh-How do you know he _did?_" he replied quickly.

"His got a point, Ming..." the right guard cautioned.

The femfirebnder turned her face to the side."If you still have your 'cosmic powers', then why haven't you tried to break out until now?"

Now was Eggman's turn to release some sweat."Duhh, well, I...I...I uh just happened to-mm-enjoy my stay here, which is why I-heh-_allowed_ your Avatar to defeat me; but now I must be returning home so uh, kindly step aside or-or else I will-y-you know, destroy you and so forth..." he attempted, twiddling his thumbs.

Ming smirked."Yeah, I don't think so; you're going right back where we put you, mustache boy!" she announced, stepping towards him forebodingly.

All of a sudden, the ground itself shook violently, causing the four to wobble to and fro.

Still trying to keep his balance, Eggman took full advantage if this."HA HA HA! Foolish human's! Now I, the Great Eggbotnik Supreme shall smite thee!" he announced, laughing evilly.

"You see what you've done, Ming!? Why didn't you just step aside!?" the left guard (who was now the right guard) rebuked his superior.

The entire tower vibrated intensely, stealing the footing of guard and inmate alike as the firebenders fell over.

Poon was finally stirred awake._"mmmrmer_Wha- What happened? What's goin on?" he wondered, taking a whiff,"And why does my head smell like a fat guy's butt?"

Ozai barely maintained even one foot on the ground, eventually hanging on to one of the prison bars. And in spite of the situation, his grimace disappeared, and for once in a long while, he started laughing; and, since an even longer period of time, the Phoenix King spoke."It is here..."

The ground continued shaking, and Eggman continued laughing. But, as spontaneously as it began, it stopped, leaving nothing but the sound of the doctor's laugh.

It took the doctor a couple seconds to realize that the earthquake was over, and his laugh halted. Eggman paused in confusion, looking around to find somekind of explanation, as did the guards in front of him.

And then, they turned their attention back to Eggman...

They blinked...

Eggman blinked...

Ming shook her head."I knew it! That's it, you're going down!" she shouted, producing flame in her hand and hurling at the inmate.

The terrified Eggman immediately ducked to the ground, the fireball whizzing over him. Suddenly, that fire ball stopped in its tracks, floating in midair.

_"What the..."_ muttered Ming to herself.

The right (left) guard chuckled stupidly."Hey, Ming, where'd ya learn to do that?"

"That's..." Ming blinked,"not me..."

The floating flame instantly sunk to the ground, fluctuating wildly. A few seconds later, the cave suddenly echoed with a mysterious ringing...

Out of nowhere, an orange light emerged out of the flame, which disappeared, and spread across the floor, expanding more and more, crawling to the walls and ceiling.

Eggman gazed upon the anomaly sheepishly."I er...don't suppose this is a common occurrence of your world...?" he tried.

As the light grew wider, it covered one torch on each side of the wall, causing the light to gain a richer shade of orange as each torch briefly sputtered before shrinking to nothing, the light expanding slightly faster afterwards.

"uh...No, definitely no..." was Ming's answer.

"Didn't think so..." Eggman concluded before sprinting passed the three awestruck firebenders with near-superhuman speed, propelled by pure fear, leaving a trail of floating dust on the left of Ming.

"What have you done, Ming!? You've incurred the wrath of Eggbotnik! Now we've all been smited! SMITED!" the new right guard whaled, clutching his cheeks.

"Will you calm down!? It's just a weird light," Ming rationed.

As she did so, that weird light spread over more torch flames along the hall, making them flutter and vanish, and the light pushed even quicker toward them; the key word being 'toward them', as it wasn't spreading in any other direction.

"It's getting closer!" the left whimpered.

"Whadda we do!?" the right begged.

"Ugh! I-I don't know! Shoot it!" the disturbed Ming commanded; she and her men got into stances and let loose triplet arcs of fire onto the light.

The result was very undesirable: the flames shrunk into the unfazed light, causing it to progress far faster toward them.

"It didn't work!" lefty screamed.

"We can see that!" rightly retorted.

"RUN!" shouted Ming.

The three firebenders ran away as the light followed them, covering and absorbing more flames in its wake, using there heat energy to progress further.

* * *

An azure fireball and Chaos spear flew parallel to eachother, blowing half a dozen agents flat on their backs, the Blue Firebender and Black Hedgehog leaping over them a moment later.

"I think the entrance was this way!" Azula recalled.

twenty feet from their path, four earthbenders sprung from the floor and jerked their fist up in tandem, forcing a stone from the floor to the ceiling, blocking the hallway.

But Shadow gave it no mind, and spin dashed against the wall, only succeeding in making several scratches in it, him finally relenting and stood there panting."It's too thick!"

"We need to find a way around, quickly," Azula said.

The two heard numerous footsteps behind them; they turned to see a full dozen Dai Li charging at them.

"Hold on to me tightly..." Shadow announced to Azula, grabbing her forearm.

"Oh not this again...!" the firebender grimaced before Shadow took off with her at super-speed, whizzing passed the confused agents. He made a sharp left turn down another hallway, and then another left to find a way around; suddenly a second wall sprang down form the ceiling to the floor, forcing Shadow to skid to a halt and dash in the opposite direction. He tried the same thing again, and reaped the same result - two stone block came from each side of the hallway and slammed together, once again stopping Shadow.

With the hedgehog not moving, Azula hastily yanked her forearm from Shadow's grip."Are you _trying_ to rip my arm off!?" she chastised.

Shadow ignored her."They're sealing off all the exits; do you know of a different way out of here?"

Azula quietly groaned at the mammal's one-track mind."I'm just now finding out this place _exists_. Of course..." she paused tapping her chin."A place this deep underground would undoubtedly require a large ventilation system for air and irrigation; there could be a network of pipelines leading out to a spot where no one would notice them, perhaps toward the forest to the north. If only we could determine which direction north is..."

Fortunately, Shadow's brain kept constant track of their trajectory."Understood. Brace yourself..." he motioned to grab Azula's forearm...

"Hold on a minute!" the girl exclaimed, shrinking her arm form the hedgehog."I'm sick of you towing me around like a rag-doll! I can run just fine without your assistance!" she affirmed, crossing her arms almost immaturely.

"We don't have time to argue about this, Azula!" Shadow urgently reminded.

"Then _don't argue!_ either you run with me or _carry me_..." she finalized.

Shadow slapped his forehead (she was _so much_ like Rouge it hurt), and then lifted the surprised Azula bridal style, and sped for the north wing of the facility.

* * *

The food was cooked, the table was set, and the company was assembled.

Indeed, completely ignorant of the chaos transpiring, Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, the newly dubbed "Space Sokka", as well as Hakoda, Bato, and Mai's parents were blissfully partaking in a great feast, prepared by the finest chefs on the mainland, on a large round golden laced table in the royal garden.

Unfortunately, not everyone was enjoying themselves, the primary example being the young waterbender. Minutes ago, she had protested to the assembly to wait for Azula and Ty Lee to join them before they dine, and had sent a servant to fetch them. But that servant had yet to arrive, and the group was getting rather impatient just sitting there with world-class cuisine placed before them: Zuko felt exasperated that Katara was still trying to befriend the manic that was his sister, Aang was visually embarrassed and softly asked for her to stop disturbing the peace, Mai threatened to leave if she had to wait any longer, and the three Water Tribesmen - including Toph - would be dead before they allowed all that meat to get cold; and so she was greatly outvoted.

As of the moment, The Avatar was more preoccupied with persuading Zuko and Mai to reconcile."So, Zuko, I'm sure you're having a wonderful time right now: I bet you usually never get to have times as wonderful alone..." Aang began, his hands clasped together merrily.

"Not really, I normally have meals like this everyday; in fact, I _prefer_ them alone..." Zuko responded calmly, despite the fact that Mai was sitting to his direct left, inserting another spoonful of magma lily soup into his mouth.

Aang winced at his remark.

Mai's mother noticed this."er, Mai, wouldn't you like to...compliment the Fire Lord on his fine dining utensils?" she tried.

"Why should I? It's not like he welded them himself; frankly, I'd be impressed if he could melt ice as lazy as he's gotten..." Mai replied casually, consuming another piece gooseturkey thigh.

Aang and her parents cringed to that statement.

The Avatar tugged on his collar."Ugh, heheh, very funny, Mai! Hey Zuko, didn't you think that was so funny what she said? Seeing as how you are most definitely _not_ lazy, thus making it an ironic statement?" he attempted to ease the tension.

"I think Mai and comedy go together like a campfire in a rainstorm; and incidentally, she's the rainstorm..." was Zuko's opinion, not even looking at the Avatar.

Aang stared at his Fire-sifu in raw shock: one would think he'd at least _want _to make up with her!

Katara sat in her seat, still yet to touch her broiled rabbitquale; she was axiously waiting for her new friend to join the party."Oh come on, where _is _she?" she rapidly taped the table with her fingers.

Sokka wrented another hunk of flesh from the bone with his bare teeth; he had lately developed a taste for hippocow."Ah, cheer up, sis," he comforted with his mouth half full of beef,"She'll get here soon enough; she's all punctual and orderly and stuff, remember?" he swallowed the hunk almost whole,"Seriously, whadda you see in her, anyway?" he inquired before sinking his fangs into another hunk.

"There's more to it than that," the waterbender explained,"I'm just so worried how she might react if she found out we had a dinner party without telling her; it could trigger another breakdown, and then she could attack us and try to start some crazy revolution: all I've been trying to do lately is make sure she doesn't snap, it's really wearing on me..." she lamented

Sokka continued to munch on a third helping of meat as if he weren't listening, though he was."You know, the way you phrase it, you make it sound more like a trial than a friendship..." the warrior observed.

Katara slumped in her chair: her brother wasn't too inaccurate in his opinion. All she's been doing until now is hold back a caged dragon - an injured dragon, but a dragon is a dragon. The waterbender hoped against hope that there truly was more to her than her self-image.

_Azula, where ever you are, please, let the real you come out from the shadows..._

* * *

After fighting through several more waves of enemies, Azula and Shadow ran into a humongous chamber with two man-made aquifers on either side; there were three large metal pipes extending out the rear wall.

"Those pipes must be supplying this base with air," Azula judged, lazily pointing up to them; she was tired from all the fighting, and she took audible breaths.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here..." replied Shadow, who was also tired, but was above showing it.

As they walked toward the pipes, they heard a sudden cracking sound to their left; they turned to see part of the wall explode, the rocks tumbling into the aquifer before a dozen agents emerged, lining up on the other side of the artificial stream. Before they could ready themselves, the wall crumbled behind them, and fifteen agents emerged and lined up on the north side, mirroring the previous dozen. Five more agents landed in front of the pipes

The two quickly maneuvered back to back, prepping for another round, right before a they saw twenty more agents coming out of the hallway they used; and as they lined up the entrance, thus surrounding them from directions, the two heard slow, methodical footsteps echo from the hallway, and out of the darkness appeared someone whose very existence bombarded the former princess in a shroud of shock, almost as much her meeting with Shadow; a face thought never to have to be seen again...

"It can't be..." Azula marveled.

"I'm surprised you hadn't figured it out until just now, princess," Long Feng replied drolly to the firebender as he entered, his arms folded behind his back; he then coughed,"excuse me, I meant to say _former princess..._" With that formality dealt with, the aged earthbender could finally shift his attention to his real target: the sentient rodent that glared up at him in total defiance."So, you must be the alleged spirit everyone's been talking about: the creature who's been all across the Earth Kingdom, attacking my forces, assaulting my rebels, setting my progress back by _months_..." he hissed as he stepped closer to the pair, stopping about eight feet from; even from this distance, he peered down at the little animal,"Funny, I thought you'd be blue..."

At this, the black hedgehog snorted - sounds just like something _he_ would be doing."I take it you're the one who's in charge of this international conspiracy?"

The earthbender shrugged modestly."In a manner of speaking..."

_"Impossible!"_ Azula spouted unexpectedly, swinging her finger at the man,"What are you doing here!? How are you still in charge of the Dai Li!? They're supposed to be under-" she stopped herself, remembering that Shadow was looking at her,"...der-Why are they listening to you...!?" she demanded, although the last question didn't come out as strong as the first two.

Long Feng chuckled."Did you really think it all ended at Ba Sing Se? That I was just going to give up and let my legacy collapse around me? That you arose victorious through some simple mind game and single-handedly dominated the entirety of the Earth in under a week? Or that you could take command of all these agents - _my_ agents - and persuade them to bow down to the Fire Nation flag? Then you truly _have _gone off the deep end." the earthbender sneered.

"What is he talking about? Azula, who is this?" the confused Shadow turned back to the princess.

The girl stood there like a statue, incapable of formulating any kind of credible explanation that wasn't the truth.

Long Feng's smile stretched venomously."Go on, your highness, tell our new friend about your time in the Impenetrable City - how you infiltrated it from the inside, and started a coupe by allying yourself with the Earth King's most trusted advisor, how you usurped control of the city's government, betraying that advisor and throwing him into a filthy jail cell, assuming you would never have to deal with him again; how you were so very impressed by that particular organization, that you felt it appropriate to smuggle a good number of agents from that organization into this very capitol, using them as your eyes and ears, and as bodyguards during the Day of Black Sun..." every syllable dripped with the utmost satisfaction.

As soon ast he earthender finished, it came clear to Shadow..."It was _you..._" he vocalized, glaring at none other than Azula,"_You_ showed them the secret entrance, _You _brought these people to the capitol, _You_ betrayed your entire nation; and you've been dragging me through this cave just to help clean up the mess that _you_ made! This is because of YOU_!_" he shouted angrily, directing his finger at her face.

"No! It's a lie!" Azula was quick to defend herself."I banished them! I got rid of them because I _knew_ that something like this would happen!" the firebender cried with voice that exposed all the vulnerably that she went out of her own way to conceal,"_I...I just never thought that_..."

"That they'd come back to me? Well they did," Long Feng sneered,"You claimed that the right to rule must be 'born with', but I've spent my whole life proving my worth to these men, and have _earned_ their respect: to think you could supplant that with some exacerbated speech is ridiculous," he explained.

"But why _here?_ Why the Fire Nation Capitol of all places? You're literally setting yourselves up to be discovered by my brother!" Azula demanded.

Long Feng's grin simply refused to leave."You know, it's funny you mentioned your brother..."

* * *

Mai's mother nervously sipped her juice."dttr...Anyway, I think I speak for _everybody_ when I say what relief it is that our precious daughter has returned to us! We were all so worried that you had left the mainland..."

"Yeah, and you're bragging rights with me," the girl retorted,"Although, given that this is the Fire Chump you're getting me to marry, you wouldn't have much to brag about..."

The whole table froze upon hearing this. Even the Water Tribesmen and waiters serving them had to take a moment to absorb her words.

Mai's father could no longer stand it."That's enough, Mai! We understand that you're upset, but you are taking this childish grudge too far. Now will you please forgive the Fire Lord for whatever petty action dealt to you before you bring shame to our entire bloodline!" he rebuked his daughter futily.

At this, Zuko gave an unfitting chuckle."As if she's actually smart enough to care about her honor. And, just to clarify, I'd have to be _sorry_ in order for her to forgive me for something..." he announced coldly.

"O-ho-kay, that does it!" Toph intervened, shooting up from her seat and whipping her finger at Zuko."I dunno if you're goin' through another one o' your identity crises, but you are definately not the guy that saved us from Cumbustion Man!"

_"uh, hello, wasn't it me that saved you from...?"_ Sokka peeped.

"What is up with you!?" Toph continued as if Sokka said nothing,"Sitting on your little throne, acting all 'clever' and 'sophisticated' and _arrogant_ - you are alotta things, Zuko, but you _aren't_ arrogant!"

"And just what is that supposed to mean!?" Zuko demanded,"Incase you've forgotten, Toph, I'm a _king_, who's been groomed his whole life to inherit this position; so I apologize if I have a little too much self-esteem..." he retorted.

"Yeah? I got news for ya, Sparky: me too! That never changed who I am; but you expect me to believe a guy who was scarred, banished, and roughed it out at sea for three years is gonna have _this_ big a turn around in three _months!?_ I don't even need to read your heartbeat to know that's a total _lie! _No buts about it!"

The Fire Lord rubbed his sinus."uh, I can't believe I'm hearing this! Aang, please don't tell me you're listening to her...!" he complained to his student.

The Avatar didn't know how to respond to his firebending master, so he chose to turn to his earthbending master."l-Look, Toph, it's a new time with new burdens; you can't expect everyone to stay the same. And especially Zuko: he has more responsibility than even me!" he reasoned. Although, while most of the group would never admit it to the firbender, Toph was inadvertently voicing out all of their concerns on the monarch's change in personality.

The blind girl narrowed her useless eyes, shaking her head."No, no there's...it goes deeper than that..."

* * *

"...And what exactly is so funny about the Fire Lord?" Shadow inquired.

Long Feng elaborated."You two have been under the miss-presumption that this entire organization is functioning out of the Fire Lord's knowledge; you couldn't be further from the truth: _He_ was the one who organized it."

It was as if Azula was struck by her own lightning._"Zuko!?_ I-you-he...That's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard! Why would Zuko want to have _anything_ to do with you!?"

" I suppose it sounds odd coming out like that; allow me to enlighten you..."

* * *

"...There's something off about you," Toph continued in a remarkably disturbed tone,"Your muscles don't flex the same way, voice vibrates differently, your heart beats like your asleep, you don't even _breath_ the same. I know it has to be you but...I dunno, it's like you don't know you're you..."

"Could just be hormones," Sokka deduced.

Zuko lazily raised his hands in the air."Oh _now_ I see, so you're saying there's just something wrong with my brain, is that it? Ya think it's cause I'm the _Fire Lord_ _now,_ and taking care of some real-world business instead of gallivanting across the world with your little group of adventurous wonder scouts? Gee, maybe _every_ Fire Nationite that retains even the most minuscule amount of authority is just _pure eeeeeeviil,_" he dramatized, almost imitating Sokka's tone of voice.

"Zuko, come on now, we never said that," Katara spoke up.

"Although, that does seem scientifically sound; maybe it's the climate..." Sokka speculated.

"Sokka, shut up," the waterbender silence him in a beat.

"No no, Katara, let him go on," Zuko continued sarcastically,"I'm just dying to hear how it is that I, who threw my honor in the garbage and stuck by your side through the end times of the War can suddenly still be suspected of treachery while AZULA can reconcile with you in under half an hour and become your best friend in under a DAY!" he shouted furiously, completely incinerating the peace of the party. The waiters felt it neccasary to vacate the premise on the chance that one of them might get banished.

Katara was speechless,"Wha!? sh-She poured out her heart to me! What was I supposed to do!?"

The monarch rested his chin on his knuckles cynically."Oh I dunno, maybe _reject her and disown her like you did with _ME when I DID THE EXACT SAME THING! I stood flat on my feet and _begged_ for forgiveness! I even offered myself up as a prisoner! But the next thing _you did_ was knock me on my butt with a water assault. I'm sorry, but if firebenders are angry and earthbenders are _stupid, _then waterbenders are total hypocrites!"

Sokka raised a finger."Excuse me, but are we referring to you apologizing before or _after_ you completely turned on us and helped conquer Be Sing Se, cause I'm pretty sure there's a difference in circumstance there. And, if I'm not mistaken, you never actually apologized the first time," he pointed out.

* * *

"I believe it occur on the day the Avatar and his friends came to Ba Sing Se to celebrated their new-found peace," Long Feng began," Later that night, your brother visited me in my cell, and informed me of the out come of the War; he told me how impressed he was with the efficiency of the Dai Li and how crucial they were in the Seige on the city and the Day of Black Sun. He was so impressed that he wanted to hire them officially - and quite permanently - for their services to carry out his plan for the future..."

"Why do I have the feeling I already know what that 'plan' is?" Shadow asked Azula rhetorically.

The former princess blinked twice; she then understood his meaning."It...It couldn't be..."

* * *

"And yet, the one who convinced me to betray you in the first place and _never apologized at all_ is still in better standing with you than I am. Explain THAT with your science!" Zuko retorted.

_"Heh, check it out, Hakoda, dinner __and__ a show..." _Bato joked to his chief.

"I heard that, you ungrateful meathead!" the Fire Lord growled at the warrior, clutching the table,"You all must find this so entertaining, don't you!? Seeing your former enemy go through all this suffering and persecution trying to redeem himself, only to be treated like I'm _still_ you're enemy JUST because I'm the Fire Lord!"

"That's enough, Zuko!," the Avatar raised his voice,"You know you're my best friend and always will be; I've never thought less of you because you're Fire Nation - even while you were bad - and have given you every bit as much trust as anyone else: in fact, out of all my friends, I think I trust you the most!"

"Is that so..." the firebender inquired in a chillingly calm tone, folding his fingers before his mouth,"Then I suppose you haven't told anyone what you've been hiding from me for the past three days..." he responded ominously.

At this statement, the mighty airbender's poise oddly receded,"duwha-Hiding? y-You think I'm hiding something?" he asked, looking away from Zuko.

In second's time, all eyes were on the Avatar.

Hakoda's eyes in particular became rather shifty."...What? What is he hiding?" he apprehensively queried the Fire Lord.

* * *

"What? You never thought your brother ever had his own aspirations of conquest?" Long Feng announced almost gleefully,"Zuko never wanted peace, to withdraw his new-found dominion over the Earth Kingdom, not when the Fire Nation was so close to world supremacy. But he knew he could never make an open effort to retain control, not with a full realized Avatar at large, so he came to me, to utilized our skills in espionage to silently place ourselves behind the government of every colony, every base, every shanty village that once hung the Fire Nation banner with either pride or fear to ensure that all his assets were present. While he and his so called 'friends' were out on their 'World Peace Tour' we were manipulating decorated officials, inciting violence into the hearts of earthbenders, enslaving prisoners of war that should've been freed months ago, intentionally causing as much chaos and disdain for the Fire Lord as humanly possible..."

"Now I get it," Shadow realized,"You're goading the Earth Kingdom into declaring a war just like Azula said."

* * *

Zuko crossed his arms."It comes off as peculiar to me how your were able to get to Eggman's space station at all, which from what I've learned, can only be done through the power of a certain source - one of seven to be exact. That being said, the only way you could've made it to the space station would've been by that particular power alone, which we of course did not have, which means you acquired it at some point in the past. And, just speculating, I'm sure if you _were_ using that power, the only time you could've been able to use it would had to have been when you were actually searching for it, found it, and used it to get to the space station in the _first place..._"

"So what are you saying..." Katara barely had time to finish...

"YOU FOUND IT!" Zuko shouted to Aang,"You and Sokka found the Chaos Emerald in the secret bay _just_ as I predicted and you REFUSED TO TELL ME!"

Katara turned to her soulmate in surprise."Is this true, Aang? Did you really not want Zuko to know? Why?"

"Don't bother with that, Katara, Sokka told me everything," Zuko revealed.

"Sokka...!" Aang whipped to his friend frustratedly.

The young man raised his gloved hands innocently."He gave me meat! I couldn't resist!"

"Aang didn't want me to know because he didn't trust me with it; he honestly thought despite all of what we've been through together, between me risking my life for his girlfriend, and teaching him things that only my Uncle knows, that I still would betray you all and use the emerald to take over the world. I've never been so insulted in my entire life; and believe me, I have been insulted." the the fire bender spat.

"It's not what you think, Zuko!" Aang tired to explain,"It has this...this pull on your mind, like it's prodding at your spirit. And then it gives you this feeling of power, as if you could make anything you want come true. The Chaos Emeralds combined are like-like a thousand comets! A million! The energy just never stops flowing! And I know at the time I was only holding one of them but I was just so afraid of, of _anyone_ having the emerald! I was scared that it would corrupt your heart and make you crave nothing but power like your dad! I was only trying to make sure it wouldn't change you, make you something you're not..." he finished sincerely.

* * *

"Yes," Long Feng admitted rather maniacally,"a war,_ the_ war - a war to end all wars - a war that will be birthed not from the Fire Nation's evil, but from the irrational hatred of the Earth Kingdom, bringing the government of the world to rubble, and will render the Avatar's efforts a complete failure. But what the Avatar will never know, is that _we_ shall be orchestrating the whole thing."

* * *

"Well, in that case, I guess that makes perfect sense why you still have the Chaos Emerald and haven't told anyone yet; am I correct?" Zuko inquired rhetorically.

Everyone besides Sokka, Toph, and Zuko turned towards the Avatar in confusion, with Aang trying his best to look just as confused.

The scarred teen raised his eyebrows."What? Don't you think I was wondering how you just appeared right before me in a flash of light my own garden? Right over there, really," he pointed,"It's not like you could've done it without the emerald, so obviously you still have it - I can only assume you've kept it a total secret these past few days? I bet not even Appa knows..." he drolled glibly.

The groups' look of confusion had the slightest hint of suspicion.

"Well, if Twinkle Toes _was_ trying to hide from us, is was definitely no secret for me," Toph chimed,"that thing's givin' off so many vibrations, I can see it as clear as anyone else."

Sokka didn't want to admit it, but he could sense the emerald as well - it simply continued to emit that odd pulsing ringing noise, just like when he first found it; the former waterbender wondered why no one else but him acknowledged the ringing...

The true waterbender's cheeks tightened in unbelief."You...you really think we would betray our values over the emerald? Even me?" she breathed weakly.

Aang couldn't look at her, he just couldn't - he felt like the most selfish jerk on the face of the earth, no matter how easily he could justify his fears.

* * *

"You don't really expect all that to work, do you?" Azula grilled,"Even if the Avatar can't stop you-or...Zuko...from starting a war, you certainly can't hide from him forever. He'll find you, defeat you, take your bending just like Father. You cannot make contingencies for that."

The middle aged earthbender scratched behind the ear,"Maybe if you told me that last week I would have conceded to such a statement: up until now, we were relying on painting the Avatar in a bad light so that the more gullible side of the world would refuse to fight for him. But thankfully, a brand new piece had been added to this Pai Sho table of life - _seven_ pieces, actually..."

Shadow's piercing gaze was instantly blunted."What?"

* * *

"Did you ever think, Aang, that the only reason everyone seems to be conforming to your new plan of harmony is because their all _afraid of you? _That maybe the reason why no one has ever tried anything close to a rebellion in the last three months of my reign is because they could never had a means to rebel against you?" Zuko questioned."Well I have news for you, all powerful one: Now they do. Thanks to you and your scattering all six emeralds across the planet, literally _anyone_ can come across one of them and challenge your power, even my father. Maybe the only reason that Azula's trying so very hard to earn your trust is so that she can snatch it when you least expect and flee the mainland without a word. What would be stopping her from collecting the rest of them, Aang? From stopping _anyone_ from collecting them all? Imagine it, Aang, just what a curse you placed upon our world through your actions..." he hissed almost unnaturally... "So I guess the question isn't whether I can ever be trusted, but if _you_ can _still_ be trusted after what you've done."

Every word of Zuko's bored deeper and deeper into Aang's conscience. But even with that said, the fire sifu refused to leave it at that.

"I'll tell you this much, Avatar," the scarred teen went on,"_I_ don't trust you; I feel sorry for _anyone_ who still trusts you, which is why I've made a decision..."

At this, Aang looked up at him, "A decision? What decision?"

The firebender arose from his chair, to the stares of everyone."I've decided to take this matter into my own hands," he replied as he took two step forward with his arms folded behind him,"It's become plainly evident that you are far too naive to be depended on with such a daunting issue: you've done far too much damage already, and with all my integrity, I can no longer stand to wait for the fruit of your irresponsibly to come to fruition. You've taken good care of the world; but now, It's my turn to take control..." he slowly stepped closer to Aang, stopping only a foot from the boy; and, surprising the group even further, outstretched his right hand toward the Avatar, but not in a hand-shake sort of manner - more to as if he expect the Avatar to _hand him something..._

The airbender had a thought - a thought that froze his blood, and seemingly brought all of his greatest nightmares to life."...wha...what are you saying...?"

* * *

"Yes, I can see that you know exactly what I'm talking about," Feng sneered,"Your precious all-powerful jewels have been cast abroad our humble world to bless us with their power - power that even the Avatar fears. As I speak, my personnel from all over the globe are being informed of these 'Chaos Emeralds', and are beginning their search. In fact, I'm told the Avatar himself is in possession of one of them: I happen to have someone working on acquiring it..."

* * *

"Aang, I want you to give me the emerald; it's too much of a burden for you alone to have them. You have other concerns to think of," the Fire Lord explained his true intention, his hand patiently open.

The whole table couldn't move. No one knew what to do; they could only wait for the Avatar's reaction.

Aang felt as if he were looked into the eyes of the Zuko he had first met a year ago."...You...want me to...why on earth would you want it?" he needed to know, he just needed to.

"I don't want it, Aang, I want to hide it - to stored it away and hope that everyone forgets it ever existed. You can't hold such a dangerous object with so close to yourself." Zuko told him.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Toph cried,"So what? Is _that_ why you agreed to this dinner party!? So you could just put Aang on the spotlight like this!? You don't even care about your girlfriend, do you!?" she exclaimed, throwing her finger at Zuko.

"Of course I do, I love Mai with all my heart and it'd be al ot easier to love her without you people butting in on our relationship," he defended,"I just can't stand to see something so powerful in the hands of a child."

* * *

"There's not much of a rush for that particular one, though," Feng explained,"once the other six have been gathered, I'm sure the one won't make much of a difference. After three and a half years of banisment and dishonor, the Fire Lord Zuko shall finally have the power he craves."

Shadow couldn't believe what he was hearing - The Chaos Emeralds were _here? _How is that possible!?

* * *

Bato coughed."Excuse me, but incase you forgot, that child happens to be the Avatar! What makes you think you can do a better job of protecting the emerald than _him, _Mr. Rising Sun?" he demanded rather disrespectfully.

Zuko glared at the warrior."Do you really expect him to just travel the world carrying that jewel around in his pocket with no one noticing? The stone is too dangerous to leave out in the open; it needs to be kept safe from prying eyes. In fact, I've already sent messages to all my bases across the world to search for the other six."

"You WHAT!?" the Avatar shot from his seat angrily,"That's crazy! You actually _told_ people about the Chaos Emeralds!? _Now_ how are gonna keep them secret!?"

"It was the only way, Aang, unless you were planning on finding them yourself," Zuko replied,"My men with gather the emeralds and bring them to the capitol, where they will be sealed within the royal treasury indefinitely," he described with an eerie calmness.

* * *

The blue firebender was shocked beyond belief: she had traversed throughout this deathtrap of a cave, and risked her life and limb, all in the hope that she could finally do something good, something grand, something that would surely convince her brother to restore her honor and finally welcome her among the Avatar's friends, among _Katara's friends_ - only to discover that the very one who could redeem her is the cause of it all. She couldn't beleive it; her body rejected it like a poison; the very comprehension of the hopelessness of her situation induced an invivsible torrent of despair she had never felt before."...you...I-I...n-no_no! _NO! You're LYING! Zuko would NEVER do that! He is NOT a traitor!" she shrieked insanely, rapidly flinging her finger at Long Feng multiple times.

" 'Not a traitor' you say? I'm sure that's what was said about Fire Lord Sozin before he made his mark in history. Just face it, girl: the desire for power is in your blood; you can't simply change who you are or what your prioreties are, no matter who you're affiliated with. All Fire Nation royalty has had their moment - now it's Zuko's turn for glory."

At that moment, something occurred to Shadow, something he saw earlier that had at first bewildered him, but after putting the pieces together, it all made sense to him that"...you brainwashed him..."

Azula snapped toward Shadow."What?"

* * *

Three pairs of feet beat against the black dirt.

The two guards and Ming sprinted across the barren plain, the orange light slithering after them. Periodicly, one of the firebenders would stop to shoot at the light, which only seemed to provoke it into moving faster.

"It's gaining on us!" Left Guard cried, stopping to shoot at the light again.

"Well _maybe_ if you stopped throwing _fire_ at it!" Ming suggested angrily.

"Are you crazy!? It's the only thing slowing it down!" Right Guard replied hysterically, shooting at the light as well.

"It's the only thing _speeding it up!_" Ming tried to convince the two boneheads as they kept running.

* * *

_"_So that's it then_?_" Hakoda got involved,"The Fire Nation keeps them forever? The other nations don't even have a say?"

"We can't afford this information to become public," was Zuko's excuse.

"Oh _I see_," Katara interpreted caustically,"So it's okay for the _Fire Nation_ to have the emeralds, but far be it from the Water Tribe or Earth Kingdom to even _know about it_? And you say _waterbenders are_ hypocrites..."

"Way to go all Ba Sing Se on us, Sparky," Toph remarked.

"I dunno what you guy are complaining about," Mai chimed in to the dismay of her parents,"I mean, what else did you expect Zuko to do?"

"We didn't 'expect' Zuko to do anything!" Katara exclaimed,"It's none of our business where the emeralds are! Aang made a decision and we have to respect it!"

* * *

The black hedgehog pointed his finger to Long Feng."You brainwashed the Fire Lord, just like those men were being reprogrammed. This isn't his or Azula's doing, it _yours_. You hypnotized the Fire Lord so that you could take control of the whole nation; and you're manipulating him into antagonizing the Earth Kingdom, and you're spreading lies and rumors across the Earth Kingdom so that all the earthbenders will revolt against the new peace."

* * *

"How dare you say such nonsense!" Mai's father shouted."It is _everyone's_ business to know where those jewels are!"

"Yeah, everybody but the _Earth Kingdom..._" Toph remarked.

"Or the Water Tribes..." Hakoda added.

"You tell em', Hakoda!" Bato cheered on.

"Enough stalling! Give me the Chaos Emerald!" Zuko outright commanded the Avatar, unintentionally causing the candle flames across the table to expand.

"Don't you dare tell Aang what to do!" Katara arose angrily, reaching for her waterpouch.

"Are you people mad!? He's trying to save countless lives!" Mai's mother cried, practically leaping out her own chair, alerting many imperial guards.

"Yeah! By dominating every single one of them!" Bato growled, getting up as well, gripping his machete.

"You say you want harmony, but you can't even trust us where it counts?" Mai arose, her knife hand ready.

"Here's an idea, trust the Avatar first and _then_ we'll talk!" Toph replied, getting into a stance.

* * *

Azula caught on."Yes, yes that's what it is! The whole world get thrown into chaos and in the end Zuko gets blamed for it! So when the Avatar is exhausted with the new war, you use the emeralds to finish him off!"

Despite being exposed, Long Feng managed to keep his cool."An entertaining notion, but I really don't think it matters whether I actually brainwashed him or not at this point, as it's far too late to undo what he's done: the Earth Kingdom is already plagued by revolts, all the significant military figures of the Fire Nation are aware of our presence but they do nothing - in fact, some are working with us to accomplish our goal; and it's only a matter of time until all the emeralds are collected, and there's not a darn thing you, this hedgehog, or his friends can do to stop us." he concluded, turning around and walking away with no worry whatsoever."And don't even think about trying to team up with me - I've learned _that_ lesson long ago; I suggest that you both stand down while you still have your lives, as you are most certainly not leaving this base either way." he stated flatly.

The firebender's lips convulsed in pure rage, never feeling so defeated in her entire life, let alone by **him. **She couldn't do anything: intimidate, manipulate, _dominate_ - all her attributes, her instincts, her perfection now fell flat on the chiseled stone floor, and it was all because of this man, this one earthbender that should be kissing her toes. It was improbable, _unthinkable, _IMPOSSIBLE!

Azula began shaking."...y-you...-y-y-you...wh-who do you are th-threatening me...th-the princess...a p-p-prodigy...y...yo...y-your MASTER!? IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME, YOU'D STILL BE STUCK IN THAT FILTHY CAGE WHERE I FOUND YOU, YOU INSOLENT CRETIN!" she roared at the top of her lungs before punching as hard as she could, letting loose an azure blaze of fury straight at the earthbender.

Out of nowhere, A wall of water exploded up through the floor, absorbing the fireball and completely shielding the target. Long Feng just kept smiling.

Azula couldn't breath.

_Wha-Waterbending!?_

More water seeped out of the crack in the floor; instead of spreading like normal water, this water defied physics by piling up into a liquid mound, which soon changed shape, growing taller and more slender, sprouting a large pair of arms and legs, three horns, a brain, and **green eyes.**

_"Impossible..."_ Shadow exhaled.

Before Azula could even ask, Chaos shot its hand out and slammed right into the firebender, knocking her ten feet back past Shadow.

"Azula-!" Shadow had only time to yell before a watery three-fingered hand around his mid-section, automatically constricting his neck.

Chaos retraced its right arm, bringing Shadow over to it. It raised the hedgehog high above its head so that its master could look Shadow in the eye.

"I'm afraid you've been overwhelmingly underestimating the powers that be - namely _my_ power..." Long Feng began.

Chaos briefly raised Shadow higher and slammed the back of the hedgehog's head against the ground so hard it made a small crater, causing a few golden rings to fly out of Shadow's body. Chaos slowly lifted Shadow from the floor, and unceremoniously flung the barely conscious hedgehog forward, tumbling next to where Azula lay.

Feng watched the mysterious rings scatter over the floor and instantly disappear."The days of our origins as a simple federal agency are long past, and we have transcended into something so much greater..."

* * *

"Don't stop shooting! Whatever you do...!"

"Whatever you do, _stop_ shooting!" Ming protested.

"But it'll gain on us!"

"No it won't!" Ming retorted."don't you see? Every time it touchs fire, the light get stronger; which means fire makes it go faster! If you stop shooting it, it'll slow down!"

"b-but, light! and-fire! and-scary...!" guard 2 stammered, unable to process a situation that could be solved by fireballs.

"Will you two just shut up and STOP!?" Ming commanded.

The two guards looked at eachother like children, and stopped firebending at their pursuer.

Upon doing so, the orange light began to lose its richness in orange glow, and gradually decreased in speed. the distance between it and the guards widened dramatically.

"I-I can't believe it! It worked!" #1 marveled.

Ming sighed in immense relief."Good. Now, let's keep going and maybe we can alert the Avatar about this..."

"HAH! That's right, ya' stupid light! How ya gonna get us now!?" #2 taunted.

However, upon Ming's next step, her right foot instantly sank into the ground, enveloping her shin beneath the surface.

"What the-Ming!?" #2 called turning to see his superior's predicament.

The female guard tried to pull her leg free of the black earth, but the appendage was completely restrained, as if it were the work of earthbending.

* * *

"...Now we govern governments, we control the masses, and we rule their minds," Feng explained, Chaos being his prime example,"and with a power-hungry Fire Lord in one hand, and the emeralds inevitably in the other, not even a god could stand in our way."

As the firebender and hedgehog struggle to lift themselves up, the sound of even more footsteps echoed within the tunnels, and to their surprise, it was not additional Dai Li agents - dozens of elite Fire Nation imperial soldiers swarmed into the chamber, lining up among the Dai Li and more than doubling the infantry.

"You believe that all this is an effort for me to take over the world, but as you can clearly see, I already rule the world - I've been ruling it for the past three months."

The weak and defensless Azula looked forth at the sight agust."You...you beat me at my own game."

* * *

Needless to say, Sokka was becoming rather disturbed by his everyone's sudden emotional intensity, and recalling his argument with Aang, he suspected the worst...

"Guys, wait! Don't you get it? It's not Zuko, it's the Chaos Emerald! It's driving us all insane!" he tried as he lept up from the seat, but was shoved out of the way by his sister.

"The only thing going insane is the fact that Zuko thinks he knows best for the world!" Katara exclaimed.

"If I only 'thought' I knew better, I would never go through with it; but I _know_ I know best!" Zuko defended himself.

Bato stared blankly."Gee, the Fire Lord says his way is the only right way and that everyone should just do what he says. Sound familiar, Hakoda?"

"I'd say that sounds all too familiar..." Hakoda glared.

* * *

"Ming, what're you doing!? Get your foor outta there!" #2 screamed.

"I can't! My leg is stuck!" Ming explained.

"Aw man, we gotta help her!" #2 lamented anxiously, moving back to help.

"No wait! The light is getting closer!" #1 stopped him.

"But Ming!?"

"There's no time! Keep running!"

Ming let her jaw hang down as she watched the nameless firebenders continue to flee the scene."What!? wh-Where are you going!? Help me!" she called as she heard a bone chilling ringing; she turned in horror to see the orange light still crawling slowly towards her. she whipped back to the men."YOU UNGRATEFUL SEA PRUNES! AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU...!" Ming jerked madly at her leg but it wouldn't budge, looking back at the light."NO! HELP ME!"

* * *

The Avatar glared strongly at Zuko, but then had to stop to observe his surroundings: one side, there was Zuko and Mai's rich and influential family, with several imperial guards behind them, looking like they were deciding if they should intervene; and on the other side were his friends - four Water Tribe natives, and an earthbender, who also happened to be very influential both in connections and reputation; each side stared down eachother, their weapons prepared for defense. It was at that very moment that Aang saw the whole picture: the two nations were rallying together around the Avatar against the Fire Nation who threatened to take control of something that is not theirs.

Over thirteen months of fighting, laboring, and bonding were about to be incinerated in the blink of an eye, throwing the entire world into another great interval of death and hatred form which it would never return: seconds were minutes - any twitch or word would do it, and there was only one way the last airbender could prevent this cataclysm from happening...

Surrender.

"WAIT!" Aang shouted, getting the attention of everyone.

With the most painful, self-deprecating demeanor possible, Aang recited,"Zuko is right. I haven't been trusting him, and despite all of what he did to help us, I still considered him betraying us as a possibility. You're my best friend, Zuko, and I shouldn't be afraid to trust you with anything, no matter how important it is," he explained as if reading a script.

"You're not serious, are you!? Imagine what he could do with that thing!" Bato pleaded, as if "he" were the enemy.

* * *

Ming desperately yanked at her shin; she didn't care if she made it out with only one leg, she just _had_ to get away from the light. It was as if it was stalking her very spirit, and preparing to pounce upon her soul like a predator.

"Someone! _Anyone!_ Help!"

* * *

"You'll never get your hands on the emeralds; I...I won't allow it..." Shadow growled in futile anger.

"I'm afraid it's no longer up to you, rodent..." Feng sneered; he then raised his right hand.

Upon so, all the firebenders and earthbenders shifted into stances, directing their fists toward the hedgehog and princess setting themselves to shoot when ready.

* * *

The light was mere feet from the woman.

"HEEEEEEELLLP!"

* * *

"No, this needs to be done; they have to be kept safe from abuse..." Aang struggled to convince the one around him, especially himself, that what he was about to do was the right thing; turning to the left, he slowly inserted his right hand into his robe, took hold of its contents, and pull out the Ivory Chaos Emerald, enriching the surrounding people in its brilliant white glow."Here, Zuko, take the first one."

* * *

The light made contact with the toe her left foot, covering it in the same light.

"NNOOOOOOOO! GET OFF! GET OFF MEEE!" Ming shrieked, completely losing all feeling in her foot, as if it was no longer hers.

* * *

Even the Fire Lord was hesitant to approach the jewel.

_"Don't do it, __don't__ do it..."_ Toph grumbled to herself, hoping only Aang could hear her.

* * *

The light surrounded her body, crawling up all her limbs and gradually replaced the color of her own skin with itself; it crept across herself, throughout herself, even peering out of her screaming throat, and eventually her eyes.

* * *

Was this really how Shadow was going to be destroyed? All for the mistakes of this one rotten girl; what a waste of his life.

* * *

Zuko's hand was mere inches from the emerald, when suddenly, an enormous column of orange light appeared miles from where they were standing, shooting up from the ground into the gray sky, pushing aside the clouds in it way, illuminating the area with its vast expanse of glow.

* * *

Eggman halted in his track, and whipped around to see the spectacle.

* * *

The two guards gazed up at the pillar with fear.

* * *

The entire prison halted its chaos long enough to acknowledge the mysterious light outside the windows.

* * *

Everyone in the chamber froze, as they noticed an eerie orange glow radiated from the ventilation pipes.

* * *

The rest of the capital, the citizens, servants, and soldiers alike all looked in awe and wonder at the great orange beam spewing from the horizon.

* * *

The whole party was dead silence, until the beam began to shrink and faded away without a trace...

They stood still regardless, momentarily stunned by what they saw.

Toph was naturally confused."...Why did-"

A fiery explosion erupted behind them.

By the time they turn around, another huge explosion went off somewhere in the palace, sending hundreds of debris in the sky.

Multiple explosions ignited all around, blowing empty houses in halves and decimating the walk ways in between.

Fire spewed out from the explosions, spreading outward like rushing water and enveloping all the surrounding structures.

The shell-shocked party found themselves surrounded by fire.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!? WHY'S EVERYTHING EXPLODING!?" Sokka screamed.

"HOW THE HECK SHOULD _I_ KNOW!?" Toph yelled.

"THERE'S FIRE EVERYWHERE!" Bato sounded.

"TOM TOM! WHERE'S TOM TOM!?" Mai's mother shrieked.

"HONEY! STAY CLOSE TOM ME!" Mai's father grabbed hold of her.

"IT'S MOVING ON ITS OWN! IT'S BEING BENT!" Hakoda announced.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Aang demanded.

"ME!? I DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH IT!" Zuko defended.

"GUYS! LOOK OUT!" Katara cried, pointing to the west.

They all turned to see a trail of fiery columns erupted from the ground in perfect sequence culminating in their direction.

"HOLD ON!" Aang announced, as he and Toph simultaneously crouched into earthbending forms and punch their fist skyward, causing a huge block of stone to launch the entire party screaming into the air right before the next flame geyser incinerated the dinner table.

As they terrifyingly flew through the sky, Aang whipped out his bison whistle and blew on it; a few seconds later, into the picture roared Appa who caught them all in his saddle twenty feet from the ground, pulling back into the air before another geyser shot out from where the bison was a fraction of a second ago.

* * *

The entire chamber started to shake violently, causing Long Feng to wobble frantically and most of the soldiers to lose their footing, some even falling into the aquifers.

Cracks cobwebbed all over the walls and ceiling, dozens of debris falling from over-head. Shadow had to lunged at Azula, pushing them both out of the way of a boulder that smashed onto the floor.

"Curses! We've been compromised! Retreat!" Long Feng struggled to command his forces over the rumbling as he and the rest of them escaped back into the tunnels; Chaos melted and slithered after its master.

Azula pushed herself back to her feet, noticing that Long Feng was fleeing."Oh no you _don't..._!" she growled, ready to run after him.

"Wait, Azula!" Shadow stopped her."We've got to get out of here!"

The blue firebender whipped around."NO! This is my only chance! I can't let him go!"

"YOU HAVE TO! There's no reason to fight him anymore, don't you see!? You'll be crushed along with him!" the black hedgehog tried, pulling on her wrist.

Azula scowled."I thought I told you to let go of my arm, you filthy RAT!" she swung a small arc of fire that force him to release her as she dashed away.

"AZULA-!" Shadow was about to follow, but he was cut off by a huge rock that blocked his view of her; he didn't even have enough time to jump over it as Azula disappeared into the tunnel."Darn it all...!"

Shadow had no choice to abandon the manic girl; he turn and skated up the wall, catching hold the edge of the middle pipe and using his momentum to swing himself into it.

* * *

As they all got their bearings, Zuko crawled to the edge of the saddle and looked down at the spot where they were enjoying a peaceful feast little over five minutes ago, now engulfed in flames."My garden..." he grimaced.

"Hate to tell you, Zuko, but we've got bigger problems..." Sokka grabbed his shoulder and pointed to his left, Prompting Zuko to turn his gaze where all the others' where toward:

The entire top of the mountain was teaming with explosions - pillars of fire erupted out of the ground, spawning waves of flame to spread outward, destroying structure after structure.

The Avatar was breathless.

* * *

Ty Lee stirred in her bed, disturbed from all the noises.

_"mmmmrmeh..._Huh?" she vocalized, rising form the covers.

It must've been a bad dream; after all, Zuko would never do that to her, and why would there be a one of those Dai Li guys here, right? Azula banished them all-

Her body cringed in pain; shocked, Ty Lee tentatively placed her hand upon the source the pain: the swollen half of her abdomen caused by the broken rib.

She gasped. It _wasn't a dream!_ But that meant there _was_ a Dai Li agent, and Zuko _did_ knock her out! But why would he do that? What happened to Azula, and why was she in here?

She had to get out of here; she went for the door and tried to turn the knob. but it was locked. Ty Lee knocked on the metal door repeatedly."Hello!? Someone let me out! I'm in here!" she called, though she had a feeling there was no one to hear her.

Suddenly, the room started shaking in a way that would have caused a non-gymnast to fall over.

On the other side of the door, fire snaked through the hallway, swallowing every surface.

Ty Lee noticed the door was getting warmer by the second; at first she was confused, but then she realized that there was a fire brewing outside. Terrified, she banged the door and hard as she could."HELP! I'M IN HERE! SOMEBODY! HELP!" she shouted, as the metal room began to increase in temperature.

* * *

Shadow flew out of the pipe, touching down somewhere on the side of the volcano, breathing loudly from surprise.

What a waste of time coming here; all this energy spent just to get himself into trouble. He would've had better luck searching for Son-

A strange noise interrupted his thoughts: the hedgehog look out into the forestry to see multiple explosions going off, sending chunks of wood through the sky.

"Explosions?" he wondered aloud.

Suddenly, the somewhat random round of explosions miraculously organized themselves into a perfect sequence of flaming pillars (not unlike the enormous lazer blast coined by the Black Arms) that trailed up to the mountain straight for Shadow at an alarming rate.

The blind-sided hedgehog skated out of the path of the eruptions, only for the trail to change its course, the pillars now following Shadow along the side of the volcano.

Another trail of fire pillars came into view around the mountain going opposite his direction, forcing Shadow to leap off the mountain side, before the two trails met, creating a fire pillar twice as big.

Fire spread from the explosions, chasing after Shadow like a waterfall of flame, only this waterfall knew how to change direction and split into flaming branches that tried to flank the fleeing hedgehog.

_**ANTI-Fire**_

A few of the fire pillars bent and contorted in bizarre tentacle-like fashion, and sprung out like serpent for the bison.

"Sokka, hold the reigns!" Aang shouted as he hopped to Appa's hump, sucking his staff into his hand as Sokka took hold of the rope. The Avatar swung his bo mightily, creating powerful wind blast that battered away the fire tentacles. Some came in like speeding arrows, others like long orange whips, forcing Aang to constantly alter the arc of his swing to fit meet each attack.

Zuko jerked his arms and bent them in many forms learned over his life, but somehow they all proved to be useless against his own element."Ugh! I don't get it! I can't bend the fire at all!"

"Do you think you could let us know when your skill level changes unexpectedly!?" Katara complained loudly, ducking down with each firestrike.

The Fire Lord spun around iritatedly."It's nothing to do with skill, it's the fire itself! It won't bend when I try to bend it!"

"Where I come from, that's called 'lousy bending' " Mai responded.

"I don't care where you came from, JUST PUT ME BACK ON THE GROUND SO I CAN SEE!" Toph demanded, clinging to the saddle madly.

"No way! you'd get baked like a turkeytrout before you'd touch the dirt!" Sokka cried,"Look, that airbending won't hold the fire off forever! Aang, Katara, stand by, I'm gonna taking us down to the lake!" he called to his friends, motioning for Appa to dip downward towards the lake.

Aang and Katara stood at either side of the bison as he paralleled the lake surface, pulling a huge liquid blue glob twice the length of Appa; deciding it was enough, Sokka pulled Appa back up toward the burning palace.

"Let go of it already!" Mai's mother whined.

"Now yet! Wait 'till I give the signal!" Sokka stalled.

"We can't hold this for long!" Katara strained.

"Now SPRAY IT!" was Sokka signal.

The two waterbenders forced the glob to explode into a vast shower that no fire could resist, draping the flaming castle...

But the fire was still there; it wasn't even smaller.

Katara was awestruck."th-the water...didn't do anything..."

Suddenly, six huge flame tentacles ambushed the bison from all sides.

"I THINK IT MADE IT ANGRY!" Mai's father gaped.

The teen hauled the on the reigns with all his might, forcing Appa to swerve up at a near ninety-degree angle right as the flames closed in, creating an enormous explosion that almost licked at the ascending bison's tail were it not for its constant flapping.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that entire fire were following _us_ in particular!" Bato called over the echo of the explosion.

It then occurred to the Southern Water Chief."...No, it's following _you!_" He threw his finger at the Avatar.

"What!? Why me!?" Aang demanded.

"Isn't it obvious!? Who else would it be after!?" Hakoda explained.

"THAT'S IT! I AM SO OFF THIS BISON!" Toph announced before boldly leaping off of Appa.

"TOPH!" Katara cried.

"Relax! She's an earthbender, remember!?" Sokka reminded.

The Blind Bandit plummeted fearlessly."Okay, fire, get ready to get _Toph'ed!_" she called before smashing into the ground, creating a giant earth shock-wave that completely smothered any flames (and standing structures). The fire did not retaliate.

The airbender didn't know what else to say."um, Okay! You guys get to a safe distance! I'll see if I can fight off these flames!" Aang prepared as he unfurled his glider and took off.

As he went further from his loved ones, the flame pillars tried to flank him from the front as predicted. Aang twirled nimbly past the fiery missiles; he flipped over ontop of his glider to surf it, deflecting the flames with his his hands, though the Avatar could only _air_bend them away - for some reason, he could not control the flames themselves.

* * *

"GET BACK HERE!" Azula shouted inhumanely as she relentlessly pursued Long Feng down the shaking tunnel.

The agents accompanying him tried to slowing her down, but there control over their own element waxed and waned, only able to throw small rocks at her which she easily turned to ash.

"Is that girl mad!? Can't she see this whole base is coming down!?" Feng grumbled.

"Perhaps she feels she has nothing left to lose," one agent suggested.

The leader turned sharply to this agent."Perhaps _you_ should be trying to stop her from killing me!"

"I'd love to, sir, but there's something wrong with my earthbending! It's getting harder just to keep my gauntlets!" the agent explained.

Giving up on ranged attacks, some agents tried stopping her with hand-to-hand with their lazily held gauntlets, but the crazed princess parried every punch and kick thrown at her; she flipped over a couple men and even body-slammed one of them - the number of agents between her and her target dwindled.

* * *

The door Ty Lee banged on became so heated she had to back away from it; the room itself with its metallic walls and ceiling became increasingly hot. She couldn't touch anything, really; all she could do was cower in the middle of the room with her hands clinging her shoulder, sweat dripping down her head.

"SOMEBODY, PLEASE! HELP ME!"

* * *

Shadow stopped at the edge of one the extensions that formed the ring of the volcano; thankfully, the fire seemed to stop following him. The black hedgehog could've swarn he saw a giant white matinee fly far over head, but it would've been silly to check, as he was now captivated by the sight before him: the entire palace city was seemingly submerged in an orange inferno, with familiar fiery pillars shooting out of the ground and towering over the buildings. Shadow's next thought was to leap into the town and looking for any civilains trapped by the fire.

* * *

Toph send waves of stone against the fire down either end of the street; she eventually noticed that dealing with the flames in the conventional way was useless, and so she decided to pound the fire back like any other enemy - though this wanton method leveled whole buildings, it was so far the most effective strategy.

"That's right, ya big hot jerk, you messed with the wrong little girl! I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!" she gloated as with her fellow rivals from the tournament. The mighty Toph stomped on the ground like a sumo, and got ready to launch another big shockwave, but strangely, when she vaulted her fists forth as before...the earth did not respond...

"What the!?" Toph sputtered in bewilderment; though that bewilderment quickly morphed into fear when the vibrations she received from the ground flucuated radicly, as if some alternate force was taking control of it. After a few more seconds, her connection to the earth itself was cut off completely, effectively blinding her.

"Wha-wha-whwhat going on!? Why can't I sense anything...!?" the powerless little girl trembled.

Unknown to her, two cracks in the ground trailed around the large hotel to her right, meeting at the back of the inn. The ground beneath the structure rised unevenly, tipping the building on its side - the side facing Toph.

* * *

The hedgehog scanned the area while perched on the corner of a partially burning building, when he saw about two hundred feet ahead, a tall building was about to fall over onto the street, and that there was a little girl idly standing right in its path.

"NO!" Shadow cried instinctively, spindashing down the building he was on to gain momentum, blazing through the street at sonic-speed. The black blur swept the girl away an instant before the building crashed onto the street.

The blur sped out of the volcano's mouth, wissing down the mountain and skidding to a halt just shy of the lower city.

"Who-what-when-where!?" Toph stuttered, completely paralyzed after having been moved at such a high speed.

But Shadow gave no answer; satisfied she was safe, he quietly put her down on her feet and skated back up the mountain, leaving her in the dust.

The confused Toph stood there baffled by the pattern of events that had taken place within a span of fifteen seconds; the blind earthbender assumed there was only one person who was fast enough to perform a stunt such as this...

"Oh whatever, Twinkle Toes! I coulda' saved myself!" she bragged, ignorant of her past danger.

* * *

The fire pillars were relentless against the young Avatar; no matter which direction he flew, blow after blow came from front and behind, and he could not bend the fire at all: that was enough confirmation for him to realize that the fire itself was alive, and it was atleast intelligent enough to discern between the Avatar and anyone else. But before the Avatar could wonder why it was attacking him, he realized he'd already devoted a bit too much of his mind to thinking, as he noticed a fire pillar was about to hit him from below, forcing him to desperately propel him self off of his glider, launching himself fifteen feet further. his precious glider vaporized by the fire. Before Aang could even mourn, he realized he was flying head-first into another flame column, forcing him to fire a powerful air blast to counter the flame; but the fire didn't stop - it pushed Aang far into the sky, altered its trajectory downward, and sent the airbender crashing into the street, forming an explosion that could be seen by his companions from upon Appa...

...and a black hedgehog.

* * *

The room was like an oven; it was too hot to move, to hot to breath, to hot to think.

Ty Lee was curled up on the bed, her clothes damp with perspiration, coughing for desperate want for water.

_"...help..." _she wheezed, then coughed some more,_"...hhheeelp..."_

* * *

The smoke cleared to reveal a smoldering crater, with the winded Avatar at the center.

Aang forced himself up to his feet; not even he knew how he survived that collision; this entity proved to be so far unbeatable.

The nomad heard whissing sound all around him; there were a circle of pillars spiraling together into the air, merging together into the clouds.

A colossal explosion ignited above the clouds, and the large light separated into hundreds of smaller lights. Piercing through the clouds were an innumerable amount of smaller fireballs that rained down toward the area like a meteor shower, clearly intent on devastating the whole mainland.

Realizing his friend were in immediate peril, his eyes and tattoos lighted up.

* * *

Shadow made it back to the edge of the volcano just in time to see just about the strangest thing so far: a huge spinning sphere of wind carrying a person inside of it blasted for the flaming clouds, all while pulling with it scores of tons of water from the lake, tearing hundreds of boulders out of the ground, and spawning a vast halo of his own fire to surround the other objects.

The hedgehog was awestruck at the spectacle; Shadow had heard countless lore all over the world about an all-powerful being who could bend the element of nature to his will, and that he had lived for eons preserving the balance of this planet.

"Is that...the Avatar?"

* * *

The Avatar forced the fire halo to explode into a massive shock wave that block the nearest wave of flame missle, then he made his army of boulders rocket around in seemingly random directions, intercepting the fare balls but also destroying the boulders, he then had the water condense into a mile-long tendril that he swung in a gargantuan circle, catching the fireballs, but vaporizing the water; soon after, all the fireballs in the sky homed in on the Avatar, prompting the great master to increase the density of his air sphere to a point where it was almost a completely white ball.

The sky was alive with an enormous explosion that briefly blinded anyone looking in that direction, forcing everyone watching to either avert their eyes or cover them, or both.

* * *

Shadow found himself captivated by the sight of a small spec dropping down from the fog of smoke, which he presumed to be the unconscous Avatar; before he could think about saving him, the blur of a human appeared to regain consciousness and reorient himself so that he could blast fire from his limbs to slow his fall, disappearing with in the burning city.

The hedgehog was speechless; a more sentimental part of his mind desired to look for and assist the guardian in saving the city frm this entity, but he deemed the effort to be pointless: if not even such a powerful being could hold off this invisible monster, then what help would a tried hedgehog with no emeralds be?

* * *

Aang slumped down to the ground, supporting his exhausted body with nothing but his arms and will.

All seemed hopeless: if not even the Avatar State could stop this thing, then there wasn't a force in this world that could harm it.

_Not in __this__ world..._

Something then occurred to the boy: he was in current possession of something that was _not_ of this world; Aang pulled out the Chaos Emerald, and looked at for a moment. With no time to think of the consequences, he shift back into the Avatar State and soared back into the sky.

* * *

Shadow was reintroduced to the person within the wind sphere taking to the sky, only instead of gathering the environment to his assistance, he was now accompanied by a small white light. Shadow wondered what that could be, when he just then remembered what that Long Feng character had told him about the emeralds.

"Could it be?"

* * *

The Avatar ascended far into the sky, spreading his arms apart with one hand holding the emerald, and spinning faster and faster, the emerald making a white ring of light.

The air around the volcano's mouth swirled around parallel to the Avatar's rotation, and gradually turned into a gigantic tornado, lined with streams of white energy.

"What's Aang doing?" Katara wondered.

Sokka however, was ecstatic."Alright, Aang! That's the spirit! Chaos-bending _slice!_" he sounded, chopping the air with his hand.

The Fire pillars were buckling from the strength of the twister, which they could not overcome, and so they were rented from the ground and pulled in. Fire on the building were sucked in as well, The fire within the palace was pulled through ever hallway and window until the entire building was free of it.

Suddenly, all the heat in the room vanished.

* * *

Regaining the ability to breath, Ty Lee was almost as confused as she was thankful. Though she had an idea of what happened, and it made her smile weakly."Aang..."

* * *

Shadow had to maintain a grip on the rock as all the fire upon the mountain was gathered by the chaos-enriched winds, assimilating with and mixing with the tornado like a giant blender.

The white and and orange tornado began to grow thinner, covering less ground, eventually turning into a great pillar of air, fire, and chaos. The pillar condensed, separating from the ground and clouds, morphing into a giant swirling ball, illuminating the area like a small sun.

* * *

_The Avatar slowing stopped spinning, regressing into a meditative position; he held the Chaos Emerald tenderly close to his heart._

_He found himself with a strange white void, only it wasn't pure white, it more of a sickly beige kind of white, with little bits of less-whiteness slithering around him._

_He wasn't in the Spirit World; it didn't feel like he was anywhere; as if her were dead- beyond dead._

_When suddenly, another figure materialized before him: a black, featureless, humanoid figure that had it arms folded inward, opposing the Avatar's folded legs. Featureless, save for the white lines that trailed up the front of its dangling legs, torso, and face, splitting up the fore head into a sort of short tuning fork pattern._

_Aang likened it to his Avatar Spirit._

_Without a word, the figure's color scheme inverted, with its markings black and its whole body shifting to that disturbing beige-tinted white. Parts of it "skin" on its face split open to reveal a pair of edged, dragon-like black eyes, with soul-piercing white pupils. Its arms slowly separated apart, creating a bizarre after image effect with its every move, revealing that the markings also branch along its chest crawling below the arms and ending with the similar tuning fork pattern in its palms, the two end going along its index and pink fingers._

_The entire void instantly shifted into black with bits of white slithering around them, vibrating with an unsettleingly loud noise that sounded somewhere between a ring and a hum_

_With no warning whatsoever, the being lunged forth like a tiger upon its prey, its fingers spread like claws - they were claws._

_In the blink of an eye, its clawed hand were around the Avatar's head, inches away from touching him._

_As it came closer, it felt to the Avatar as though everything in the universe was wrong with this entity: it was an abomination to all that existed and ever shall exist. Aang's individual mind became bombarded with visions of a past that was new, memories that were unfamiliar, all stemming from his hand that came closer and closer to touching his face._

"NO!"

_The Chaos Emerald glowed brilliantly, forcing the abominable entity back in what looked like pain._

_The Avatar tapped into the emerald's full power, allowing it float in front of him. He pulled his hands back and pushed with all might, unleashing a blast of true white against the evil force._

* * *

The giant sphere breifly shrunk and then exploded in a dramatic display of white and orange. All the fire was completely erradicated, leaving only white shade that snowed gracefully to the ground like thin fabric.

Aang was introduced back into reality; the next thing that happened was his tattoos instantly turned blur again, and he plummeted from where he was, starting to scream in terror.

Seeing the person falling from the sky was enough to convince Shadow to want to save him; but before he could carry out the action, the white matinee creature from before flew in and caught him on its back.

This sight relaxed Shadow.

* * *

A boulder burst through the metal door into the secret cove, with Long Feng frantically sprinting in.

A couple imperial guards standing by a speed boat at the dock noticed his abrupt entrance.

"Huh, wonder what's chasin' him?" one of them wise-cracked.

Just then, what was left of the door was destroyed by an explosion of blue fire, the haggard Azula pouncing into view.

"Woah! You had to ask, Ju!" the other retorted in shock.

To their dismay, the older earthbender charged right for them."START THE BOAT!"

"But don't you want to wait 'till you-"

"JUST START IT!"

Noting the crazed deranged princess, the guards hopped onto the boat, with one of them firebending into the engine, kick-starting the vehicle.

As soon as Long Feng had passed the middle of the dock, the boat had already begun moving.

"Your. Not. Getting. AWAY!" Azula snarled, ten feet from the man.

Long Feng desperately leaped off of the end of the dock to reach the boat, landing on it rather roughly.

That didn't stop her: upon kicking off of the dock, she blasted herself further with twin jets out of her feet, her hands ready to grab her target.

However, right in her path appeared Chaos, who easily swatted her to the right; she skipped along the surface before disappearing below. Chaos sunk back into the water and followed the boat.

Long Feng gave one last smirk as the speedboat vanished into the tunnel.

The disoriented Azula slowly descended deeper into the water, until a forgiving net came down and lifted her up.

A fellow maintenance worker, feeling the need to rescue her, strenuously pulled her body out of the water and dragged the net back on land.

Azula hacked out the water that could've filled her lungs; the old man tried to help her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

As soon as the girl stopped coughing, she could only sob, her clothes torn, her hair ruined, tears forming river down her face."...no...no I'm not alright...that was my chance, my _one chance_ at finally redeeming myself and it's gone...gone..." she wimpered,"Now I have no one...I might as well be _dead..."_, she wept defeated.

The worker had not the faintest idea what to say, except to try and comfort her to the best of his ability."Now don't say that, young lady; nobody's alone in this world - there's always someone out there who'd understand you..."

At those words, something in Azula clicked, causing her tears to subside."...yes...yes Yes there _is_ someone who understands me! Someone who's gone through _exactly_ what I have!" she beam out of nowhere. The firebender began giggling maniacally, causing the man to let her go in fear."Oh, alright, Long Feng, you want to play this game!? Well I'm not finished yet!" she announced to no one, running off back into the tunnel, leaving the bewildered old man with, nothing but the echo of her maddened laugh.

* * *

The bison landed softly in the field before the palace.

Sokka took a big breath, and exhaled loudly."whoooooh_Man!_ What was up with that spirit!?"

Aang however, couldn't stop hyperventilating."It wasn't a spirit! It wasn't a person, or an animal, or a machine or _anything_ I've ever faced before! And! And...!" he kept breathing.

"And what!? And _What!?_" Sokka stressed, his fingers twitching with suspense.

"And..." Aang allowed his breath to slow, finally calming down."...I think I killed it..."

After an awkward silence, Sokka's hands drooped."Oh, well then that's over with; yep, problem solved. world saved," he concluded flatly,"Great job, everybody, what a team effort. Now that that's done, let's just chalk it up to another crazy day at Zuko's house..." he arose to get off of Appa.

Aang caught Sokka by the shoulder."No! This isn't done, Sokka!"

Everyone on the bison, especially, Sokka, was flabbergasted by this news."wuWHAT!? bubut You just said you killed...!"

"I know what I said, Sokka, but there's something deeper going on here." The Avatar turned to the rest of the passengers."Look, anybody who doesn't want to come with me get off of Appa - we're leaving now. Where's Toph?" He said beat by beat.

Sokka's entire posture drooped to a slump."_ahhhhhooohhh_, Do we have to leave right _now?" _ he wined naturally.

Aang peered into his friend's eyes."To be honest, we should of left a _week_ ago..."

"Well, you can forget our daughter having anything to do with it!" Mai's father announced snootily. "Come, Mai, let us go to what left of our home and try to relax..." he commanded, taking his daughter and petrified wife's hands with as they climbed off the bison.

"For once, I agree with you, Dad..." Mai replied somewhat thankfully.

"Come on, Bato, let's get off..." Hakoda, ordered.

"If you say so, Chief," Bato followed.

"You're not coming?" Katara inquired, kind of surprised.

Her father looked back up with a warm smile."Someone needs to stay look after all this destruction; and besides, you kids saved the world without my help twice already, you'll do just fine," he explained encouragingly.

"I think I should come with you too," Zuko said sheepishly,"I know my capitol needs a leader to comfort it, but between the White Lotus and my own personnel, It's in good hands."

"Alright, fine!" Sokka relented, throwing his gloved hands in defeat,"But when we find Toph, you're driving, Aang!" he decided. "Yip-yip!"

Appa took off once again sailing out of the volcano's mouth.

* * *

Long Feng saw the chaos finall subside on the mainland. He decided it was time to return. The earthbender figured the former princess was arrested, if not dead; the base was in serious need of repairs - not a difficult task for his earthbending agents. The hedgehog had escaped, though, that could be a problem. Even so, all this has transpired without the Fire Lord and Avatar's knowledge - that was all that mattered.

Despite the setbacks, progress was continuing unhampered; it was only a matter of time before he controlled _everything_.

* * *

It was only then that Katara realized something."Wait a minute, where's Suki?" I haven't seen her all day," she vocalized.

Sokka rolled his eyes,"Right, that. The palace received a letter for the Aang from the Mechanist; he said he needed you to come to the Northern Air Temple and see something important, ans Suki decided to go there on your behalf." he explain glumly."Kind of a shame we have to leave so soon - it would've been nice to see if Azula wanted to come..."

Every one still on the bison (and perhaps even the bison itself) stared at the young warrior like his "waterbending" had returned.

"_Why_ would you want my sister to come along?" Zuko queried sharply.

Sokke shrugged."Cause, ya know, I figured since you're Fire Lord and all and she wants to be good now, we could've had her as our new team firebender - can't be Team Avatar without that..." he excused himself.

Zuko's glare persisted.

Sokka sensed this, and turned to meet him."Oh quit making it sound weird! It's nothing like that! I just saw her up in the Ark-thing and how she was taking on those machine people; hate to say it, but she kicks way more butt than you, Scarface..."

At this, the Fire Lord body tightened up; he crossed his arms immaturely.

"Look! There's Toph!" Katara announced, pointing down.

All looked down to see Toph reclining against an abandoned cart of cabbages, munching on one of them.

As soon as Appa touched down, Aang called to her."Toph! How you get down here!?"

Her blind eyes drooped."Veeery funny, Twinkle Toes..."

* * *

From a vantage point in a palm tree, Shadow watched the girl lay a few coins on to the edge of the cart to compensate for the eaten produce; she climbed up the giant mammal, refusing the helping hands of the other passengers; when she was secure, the bald one in bright orange robes switched placed with the one with the pony tail in the odd poofy suit (which looked strangely familiar for some reason...). The bald one snapped the reigns while saying a phrase Shadow couldn't make out, causing the beast to slap it tail and take to the sky a third time, soaring away from the mainland.

Shadow didn't know what to make of all that had had witnesses on this land, but one thing was for sure: that Avatar had a Chaos Emerald, and the hedgehog was going to have to get it back. But for now, he settled for skating after the bison, intent on following the Avatar wherever he was going to.

Eventually, Shadow was going to have to confront him.

* * *

"Hang on, if the scary heat-monster is dead, then how come we're all headed for the Earth Kingdom?" Toph wondered.

Aang's eyes stayed on the horizon."Because there's something more to everything that's happened that we haven't figured out yet; I need to understand," he explained,"To tell you the truth, I was already planning on us leaving after the dinner.

"I guess that's explains why all our stuff is packed in the saddle," Sokka observed, noticing the sacks and wooden chests tied to the sides of the saddle.

Out of one bag popped Momo.

Zuko stared at the lemur."so...Where are going now?" he turned back to his student.

Aang took a deep breath; he wasn't sure how to phrase this without gaining weird stares, so he decided to articulate it as clear as he understood it:

"Where going to find the blue hedgehog."

* * *

Later that night, when the commotion had finally died down, Tom Tom was reunited with his parents, the sleeping Ty Lee was taken to an infirmary, and the prison tower was brought back to sanity.

But what no one noticed that night was a chubby silhouette sneaking through the quiet docks.

Eggman tiptoed through the empty ship yard, making sure no one was hear. He slunked over to the side of a ship where a speedboat hung on a chain. The doctor took hold of the chain and, looking back and forth, yanked on it, causing the small boat to drop into the water, making a big splash that sprinkled him, making him shiver - after all, the water _was_ awfully cold.

"Impressive, doctor..."

Eggman almost jumped out of his skin upon the voice, and he whipped around to see someone who instilled him with even more fear: it was none other than Princess Azula, who currently looked as if she had lossed a fight with a flash flood; despite this, she had an unnerving smile on her face as she lean on a cargo crate, her arms crossed.

"You actually managed to escape your imprisonment; I had to search through that tower all day for you, only to have to come back empty handed. I figured you'd be here..."

"ppp-peperpuh-azuzzizzszulaz...blue fire girl..." the frozen scientist mumbled, suddenly remembering all the things he put this girl through, and just how justified she would be for retaliating. He immediately clasped hands together."hehehHello there! I was just tending to this here speed boat to see if it was in good-er-condition! IIIIIiii...had no idea you'd be hear...!" he admitted pathetically.

Azula's smile didn't vanish; actually, she giggled."Yes, I suppose it rather odd for us both to be out here, isn't? Where no one is around to see someone use a boat to flee the country and endeavor to gain revenge..." she went on, pushing off of the crate and taking a step forward, her arms unfolded.

Sweat rained from Eggman's face like machine-gun fire, falling off his mustache."nnninnenNow you aren't still mad at me f-for trying to take over your world, are you? I-heh-heh-I wasn't _reeeaally_ gonna blow up the Fire Nation, I was just bluffing!" he bluffed.

Azula shook her head patronizingly."Oh, now why would I be upset about that?" she replied softly, taking a few step cloer to the terrified doctor. Her attention switched to the boat."You are aware that vehicle can only be operated with firebending?" she pointed to it.

Eggman swallowed."I...did not know that..." this was it; time to close his eyes so he didn't see it coming...

"Pity..." she lamented; she then turned and walked toward the boat,"Well, you drive a hard bargain, doctor, but I suppose I could spare some time to ferry you...

The scientist suddenly straightened stiff."ddiahuh-What?"

Without reply, Azula calmly stepped into the boat and sat patiently."Well? Aren't you getting in?"

The doctor what speechless; he didn't like where this was going."Um...okay..." he murmured, hesitantly descending into the boat with the former princess.

She shot blue fire into athe engine, activating it and sending it skiing into the sea, away from the mainland.

After a second or two, the genius mustered the courage to ask."so uh...where are you taking me exactly?"

"The Black Cliffs, of course," she replied,"It'll be an ideal spot to stop since we're trying to escape."

One particular word disturbed Eggman."er...Did you say...'we'?"

Azula's smile grew."Yes, Doctor, _we._"

The newly formed partnership sailed out into the horizon.


	22. The Edge of the North, Part 1

_**The Edge of the North**_

It was close to noon, on a clear sunny day. We see a pair of young waterbenders standing fifteen feet from eachother - one an ambitious girl from the Southern Water Tribe, with a smile of purely justified confidence - her opponent...not so much...

In one click, the boy raised a glob of water out of the floor and turned it into a ice sphere, and launches it at the girl.

She merely converts the ice ball back into water, wheels around in a hundred and eighty degrees and shoots the water back; as it smacks into the boy, it turns back into ice, disabling him while suspending him in ice.

"Nice try, Pupil Sangok," Began the esteemed Master Pakku as he entered the ice courtyard," A couple more years and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge..." he lamented sarcastically.

A sudden chuckle caught the attention of the two experts; they looked up to see the girl's faithful blue anthropomorphic companion, Sonic the Hedgehog, lying atop one of the tall ice pillars decorating the courtyard,"Hey, don't be so down on'em, Pakku; He's _your_ pupil, remember?" he smirked.

The master's left eyebrow wiggled in annoyance - he was becoming weary of this hedgehog's banter."Yes, well, Sandok is fairly new..."

Sonic blinked."So new you can't even say his name right?"

Pakku slumped."You're telling me you traveled across the world with _him_?" He asked his star pupil.

Katara giggled."Don't worry, Sokka feels you pain..."

Indeed, Sonic had traveled the world with Katara and her brother. As their guide through the globe, they've been through a barrel full of crazy escapades - running across the Earth Kingdom, freeing villages from the Fire Nation, meeting all sorts of cool people; well, not all of them were cool, like that crazy Prince Zuko with him and his cool scar who was always sure not to be far behind whenever a body of water was near, that one jerk with who started out cool but then he tried to trick Katara into helping him flood a town full of innocent colonials, or that one guy with the weird mullet; What was he supposed to be again? A commander? A Cornell? An admiral? He gets promotions faster than Sonic can run! He was probably in charge of the whole Fire army by now...!

But in the end, they finally made it up to the North Pole, and Sonic had to admit, it was pretty cool (pun entirely intended...) with all its huge ice buildings and stuff - Ice Cap Zone ain't got nothin' on this place!.

But just when We thought our quest was complete, a certain stuck-up old dude had to come out all jerk-like and say teaching girls to fiight is _"forbidden"_. Heh, woulda' loved for Amy to be around when he said that...

Anyway, I couldn't take it, so I decided I would spy on him teaching his own students at night and try to show Katara the moves, until old Pakku-Poopoo caught us in the act and wanted us banished.

But apparently, Katara couldn't take it either: it was like all this journey was for nothing. So, being the calm caring girl I know her to be, she...challenged him to a dual? Man, he musta' really got under her skin with that "little girl" comment...

So they fought; well, Katara fought, Pakku _won_, and he was about to leave her there in her ice cage when he found her necklace on the floor, and said it was for Katara grandmother - talk about the KING of coincidences!

So he decided to train her anyway out of respect, and here we are now...

Yawning, the blue hedgehog arose to his feet and began stretching routinely."Well, that was entertaining and all, but I think I'll go take a nice stroll through the city while you two finish up..."

"And of course by 'stroll', you mean that you're about to blast off at the speed of sound again?" Pakku presumed.

Sonic hopped down to the court yard."Hehe, you catch on quicker than Sokka!" he announced before fulfilling the master's prediction to the letter, leaving only a trail of blue smoke in his wake.

The blue blur bolted through out the city, frighting many bystanders, splashing water on some people, blowing women's (and men's) dresses upward. Sonic soon decided that this town was far too cloistered for a speedy tour, so he left the city limits and headed straight for the icy wasteland above. along the way, Sonic for some reason stop and landed into a chamber he had never seen before - an oasis in the middle of the arctic, complete with grass and a couple trees.

Oddly enough, it actually felt a bit warmer in this spot, Sonic wondered why. He found himself walking across the bridge toward a small pool complemented by a pretty wooden archway, that seemingly served no purpose whatsoever; he found himself peering into the pool, where within were a pair of fish - one black and one white - that did nothing but swim around eachother in the center of the pool, creating a continuous swirling circle. Funny, thought Sonic, the way they swam it kind of reminded him of the Yin-Yang symbol. While watching two fish swim around and around and around over and over would probably get boring really fast, something was compelling Sonic to just stand there and stare at their little water dance; it was mesmerizing, enchanting even...

Sonic shook his head: was he falling into a trance just now!? The hedgehog decided, to leave the weird fish be and dash up the huge ice wall and into the vast expanse of ice.

Sonic spent the next half-hour racing across the grand arctic field, sensing almost no end to it; any ordinary person would soon get sick in this kind of weather, but Sonic was kept warm by the energy of his burning calories.

After a few more minutes of runnin', he came across another odd sight: nestled between the mountains was a forest full of healthy evergreen trees - rather reminiscent of what he had encountered earlier. Once again, the temperature was noticeably warmer with the shade of the twisting trees. Sonic finally stopped at the center of the forest: a wide empty space with nothing but ice. As he walked across it, he came across another strange object - at the center of the space was a mysterious light radiating a few feet into the ice. His experience telling him to investigate glowing things, Sonic lifted his left leg gracefully off the ground, and slammed his heel onto the ice; nothing happened...

Sonic was surprised - usually one good swing of the foot was all it took to break through ice; he employed another tactic: he hopped ten feet into the air and dashed downward, slamming both feet into the ice. It blew back plenty of snow, but it still did not make make any noticeable damage to the ice. Not deterred in the slightest, Sonic lept upward again and rained down a rapid barrage of homing attacks upon the stubborn ice floor.

After a couple wasted minutes of doing so, the tired hedgehog was fed up with this ice. Sonic decided to turn back and head home. No use staying here, he thought, maybe someone more powerful than him (and stupider) would come along and open this ice on their own. With that thought, he darted back through and out of the weird arctic forest and back south.

When he finally made it back to the capitol, however, as he stopped at the edge of the cliff that crowned the great city, he witnessed yet another odd sight: all over the city fell flakes of _black snow_ from the strangely gray sky, strange because the sky looked nothing like that before he left.

"Yeesh! Would it be OK if weird stuff stopped happening!?" He complained, resting his knuckles on his hip.

Sonic jumped off the cliff and ran down the wall, having to pass through that _weird_ oasis with the two fish again before exiting out through the apparently secret entrance, speeding all the way back to Katara and her poopy-headed master.

"What's goin' on!?" Sonic asked upon skidding to a halt into the courtyard.

He noticed Pakku staring out into at the horizon; the waterbender turn toward the hedgehog with a look that suggested he knew the source of this black snow all too well..."The Fire Nation is invading."

* * *

Steel gongs resonated throughout the city, signalling its countless citizens to head straight for shelter. Women, children, and elders were hid safely while every abled-bodied male was on his way to the citadel, where their chieftain Arnook was ready to give a great speech about the upcoming battle.

Sonic found it kind of moving how he talked about how some people will never walk away from this battle alive, but they will never leave the hearts of the people either. He also called upon the "moon spirit and ocean spirit" to help them.(Heh, these tribal folks and their superstitions...)

After that, men began volunteering to assist in the battle, lining up in front of the chief to get a mark on their head that finalized their decision. Seeing the peril at hand Sonic thought he might as well volunteer as well, cutting through he line before the chief."You can count me in, Chief."

Arnook was surprised at this decision."You wish to join the Water Tribe in this great battle? This is not your war to fight, Blue Hedgehog - your quest to bring these two children to the North Pole has been completed; and there is a chance that you will not return if you accept the task..."

"There's no way I'm gonna leave my friends _or _their people behind; besides, you guys won't survive without me - I can guarantee that..."

The chiefwas impressed by his loyalty and confidence, and kneeled down to place the mark onto the hedgehog's large blue forehead.

* * *

The wall in front of the city was lined by a long row of countless soldiers from on end of the wall to the other, with Sonic in the middle, Katara and Sokka in the back. All look out into the ocean with no emotion, waiting for the soonest sign of approach.

That sign indeed came - a single black ship popped over the horizon; not two seconds later, a huge fireball flew from the ship, heading straight for the wall. It crashed with thundering boom that shook the wall and the nearest people standing on it off their feet, blasting a hole right through the wall.

"That's my Que!" Sonic announced before dashing off the edge of the cracked wall, plummeting faster than the chunks of ice falling from the wall. He swung his legs back and forth rapidly as if he were running on the ground, so as soon as he hit the water, his feet were enough to keep him on the surface as he blasted away for the ship.

Sonic watched a few more fire balls sail overhead, hitting the wall again and even flying over it, likely destroying some part of the city.

"That's the first thing that has to go!" Sonic decided, swerving into a wide curve around the ship, and building more than enough momentum to sprint up the metal broadside and fly far over the heads of blindsided Fire Nation troops. Before even one of them could open fire, Sonic had homing attacked two of them, dodging multiple fireballs by zipping side to side; he dashed forward and kicked one man in the gut, knocking him to other side of the ship, turned and spin-dash into a man's legs, toppling him head over heels as he headed for the for trebuchet. Causing his quills two stick straight out, he turn his spindash into a giant razor that sawed a big gauge in the metal beam pulling the boulder; when it tried to fire, the ill-reinforced beam snapped in two, rendering the whole thing useless. Sonic stopped just before a brawny-looking soldier with a huge metal hammer, who had naturally had his hammer raised by the time Sonic was in front of him. Sonic easily dipped to the right while the hammer made a dent in the floor, and tripped the man with a swift swing of the leg. The hedgehog eyed the weapon; thinking he could find use in it, he snatched it from the stunned crewmen's hand and lifted the heavy tool with a good deal of strength.

_Man, how does Amy walk around with this thing!?_

Sonic strenuously sprint for the next trebuchet; he sped to the other side of it where the chain connected to the beam; he raised the hammer over his head and swung it down and bashed the metal chain designed to stop the trebuchet swing. He intentionally kicked the trigger that fired the artillery, but because the brake mechanism was gone, the boulder's momentum kept it connected to the trebuchet, resulting in the flaming boulder being slammed down through the floor of the ship; thankfully, that particular trebuchet was on the fore peak of the ship, which was elevated off the water, so the ship didn't start sinking when the boulder blasted through he bottom.

Finding substantial potential in this hammer, Sonic sped over to the next trebuchet and used his momentum to enhance the swing of his hammer, smashing the trigger so it couldn't be fired, but that resulted in the unlit boulder being launched anyway; unfortunate, since its trajectory wa not poperly adjusted the crippled trebuchet swung the boulder into the trebuchet in front of it, blowing it to pieces.

"Yeah! Double-Kill!" Sonic cheered, right before an enormous hulk of a man loomed over the hedgehog, getting ready to smash him with _two_ hammers. Sonic quickly notices this...and simply drops his own hammer on-top of the man's foot, causing him to drop both hammers and howl in unmerciful pain, kneeling over to feel the hammer.

"Not gonna lie, Dude, ya could'a seen that coming..." Sonic lamented to the screaming man before punching him square in the jaw, knocking him to the floor.

A second later, the floor around Sonic stood on started to rumble; a huge spike of ice erupt out of the deck of the ship, taking the last trebuchet with it. Sonic ran to the edge of the deck to see a group of waterbenders surrounding the ship and bending in tandem with eachother, converting the water around the ship into ice an rasing the whole thing off of the surface, which uncannily resembled that old ship from the South Pole.

Sonic gave the benders a thumbs-up; a few of them replied with thumb-ups as well.

Sonic decided to jump up to the top of the bridge to get a better view."Okay, one ship down and..." but his banter stopped short upon the sight behind the one ship: far out in the distance were more than a hundred more ship just like the one that took him so much time to destroy, and the numbers were counting.

"...This is definitely not on easy-mode..."

* * *

It was getting dark, almost twilight even, and Sonic had long ago lost count of many ship he had disabled. This was getting rough, Sonic was exhausted with these ships; he could hardly believe a bunch of boats were taking him THIS long - seriously, _him_?

Sonic reclined atop another sinking ship, wondering just how he was gonna do this. The hedgehog then had an idea: an invasion this big would need a pretty high-ranking officer to lead, and Sonic bet that one would be cruising in a much bigger, eviler-looking ship that stood out from the all the others - at least that's how Eggman did it. All Sonic had to do was look for said ship.

As Sonic turned his attention back to the navy, he noticed all the ships were dropping their anchor, and stopped throwing fireballs.

Perfect, their halting the attack for the night; at least he won't to worry about the Water Tribe for now...

It was full moon, all was quiet throughout the flag ship, aside from a certain scarred teen in the loading dock, preparing to lower a small boat into the water.

"If you're fishing for an octopus, my nephew," began a voice that needed no introduction," you need a tightly woven net or he will squeeze through the tiniest hole and escape."

"I don't need your wisdom right now, Uncle." Zuko dismissed, not looking at him.

Iroh changed his expression to one of depression."I'm sorry, I just nag you because, well, ever since I lost my son..." Iroh looked away, pain evident on his face.

Zuko face scrunches, knowing exactly where he was going, and he wish he wouldn't have the strength to finish. "Uncle, you don't have to say it..."

But the defeated general said it anyway"...I think of you as my own son..."

Zuko turned to him, a genuine look of concern and understanding on his face."I know, Uncle," he bowed and saluted him with his arm over chest, "We'll meet again..."

But before the banished prince could turn around, Iroh rushes forward and gives him a bear hug.

Not know how to cope with this sudden display of emotion, Zuko undid his uncle's grip" ..._After_ I have the Avatar..."

"You're kidding me, right?"

The very sound of that voice shot a bolt of cold up Zuko's spine; he wheeled around to see the very person he was hunting after, standing in the boat with his skinny arms crossed.

"You _still_ think I'm this Avatar-guy?" Sonic inquired sharply.

The young firebender almost fell back into Iroh, but he immediately assumed an awkward stance."I have you now...!" he announced, blindly charging Sonic with a flame-dagger in hand.

The blue hedgehog merely side-stepped, caught the Zuko's wrist, and flipped him clean off the ship, his scream echoing before getting cut off by the abrupt splashing noise.

The "Avatar" dusted off his hands, snorting in disappointment.

Iroh sighed as well."I am not going to lie: he could have seen that coming..." he lamented, shaking his head.

Sonic stepped off the boat, walking toward Iroh.

This naturally caused the old general to stammer backward in fear (or at least that's what he _wanted_ him to think).

"Don't worry, monkey boy, I'm not gonna hurt ya," Sonic assured him."Unless, of course, this whole invasion is _your_ idea..." he broached forebodingly.

Iroh quickly raised his hands in submission."Oh nono, I am merely a consultant for the true leader: Admiral Zhao."

"Zhao!?" Sonic blared, then sighed."Shoulda' figured. So where is he now?"

Iroh stroked his beard."He is probably resting within his quarters; you will not find him without alerting the guards. Either they will arrest you, or burn you alive," he explained, although something in his voice belayed a hint of sarcasm.

"Doesn't sound so bad to me," Sonic replied,"I'll just see if I can find ol'Zhao and find out what he's doin' here," he resoled, waking forward, but Iroh stepped in his way.

"Now wait a minute," he started,"You must be aware that even an old worn out general such as myself simply cannot allow the Avatar to pass by without meeting fierce resistance..."

Sonic rolled his eyes...

"...But of course, since you are clearly _not_ the Avatar, there is no need for confrontation," Iroh finished, stepping back to where he was before.

The hedgehog smiled."Smart guy." he ran past Iroh and into the ship.

* * *

A guard was paroling through he hallway, nearing an intersection.

Before passing it, Sonic was calmly walking through the other hallway."Evening..." he greeted in a most nonchalant tone.

"Evening..." replied the firebender mechanically, continuing his patrol.

The two passed by eachother quietly; a few seconds passed...

"...HEY!"

Sonic smirked as the soldier rushed back into the intersection, attempting to shoot fire at the hedgehog, who zipped backwards and kicked the guard in his masked face, knocking him back along the opposite corridor.

"So these are the best goons Zhao could find? These guys make Knuckles look like a genius!" Sonic concluded.

However, this additional banter allowed time for several more soldiers, some just awoken out of bed, to find the hedgehog and surround him.

"Uh-oh, I am surround from all directions; well, I guess I'm surely done for..." Sonic recited with a rolled of the eyes.

"Is he being sarcastic?" one soldier asked.

"Oh no, Jang, ya think?" an undressed guard retorted.

"Did that hedgehog just talk!?" another marveled.

None of those questions would be answered, as the blew blur rolled from under that portion of men, toppling them over like bowling pins.

"After him!" one of the untoppled men barked as he and the other soldiers followed.

* * *

Admiral Zhao was carefully reading his manuscripts over again, when suddenly a voice called from the communication pipe to his left.

_"Admiral! Help!"_

The alerted Zhao jumped up from his seat and rushed to the funnel."What's going on down there!?"

_"Admiral! The ship is under siege! Repeat, the Ship is Under Siege! It's the hedgehwuhguwuAHHHH!" _the voice was cut off by the sound of screaming, firebending, and various metal thuds, followed by chilling silence.

Zhao was stunned."p-Private!? Hello! Who is it!?" he desperately demanded, although the answer was not what he expected...

_"And we're back to 'Sonic Talk Radio'; brought to you by ' The Acoustic Metal Pipe' - buy one at your local cabbage cart today! We have a very special guest for you tonight, folks, a Mr. Bonehead P. Zhao; he's one of the Fire Nation's most encouragable officials and is currently seething with rage as we speak! How ya feelin' tonight, Zhao?"_

"I'LL MOUNT YOUR PELT OVER MY MANTLE PIECE!"

_"And there you have with Zhao! Thanks for listnin' and Good Night, Water Tribe!"_

The admiral immediately destroyed the funnel with a fist of fire.

"I should've known that accursed hedgehog would rear up soon or later!" Zhao seethed, tired of being thwarted by this little blue creature.

A few soldiers burst into his quarters, shutting and locking the door behind them.

"Sir! The hedgehog is two floors below us; the sixth squad is holding it off." one soldier reported.

"It won't be long before he gets here!" the admiral replied."Quickly! let's focus on the entrance and wait fo him to come to us. The moment we see a twinge of blue, we release all the fire we have!"

Two of the three soldiers nodded, and then assumed stances towward the door, but the third man simply stood there.

"Well? What are you waiting for!?" Zhao demanded.

The soldier's body language appeared unsure."Well, Sir, what if he uses a different entrance? Like the window for example?" he inquired, gesturing to the open window.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Zhao rebuked."Why would he waste time to go outside the ship and back through the window if he's already at the door!?"

"Yes of course! That's preposterous!" an alternate voice called out from out the window.

Zhao snorted."Well it's about time someone around here agrees with m-" Zhao froze, and spun around to see Sonic sitting on the rim of the window.

"You'd think you'd be used to this by now..." the blue hedgehog remarked.

Before the admiral could even tell his subordinates to fire, a blue blur had already tackled them in the blink of an eye. By the time he turned around, his men were sprawled across the floor, with a edged face Sonic in the center.

Zhao immediately followed in Iroh's footsteps, tripping over on his rear and squirming away as Sonic stepped closer.

"w-Wait! Please! There's no need to hurt me! I'll call off the invasion, I'll retreat! You have my word of honor!"

Sonic scoffed at his sudden weakness."Right, 'honor' he says; that dude I tossed off the boat has more honor than you," he replied rather coldly.

Zhao crawled up to his desk, getting up and leaning on it."l-Listen! What I plan on finding up here is far more valuable than even _my_ capture could be! If we work together, we could split the prize in half!"

It was this propostion that caused the hedgehog to pause in his step."...yyyyyyYou're kidding, right..? There's no way I'm helpin' you with anything!"

However, despite the situation, Zhao chuckled."Too bad for you..." his left hand gripped the golden candle stand, pulling it like a leaver.

Suddenly, the floor Sonic was standing in collapsed under his weight, dropping him through a secret hatch; he plopped down to the metal floor of a another room beneath the quarters.

Sonic shook his head, and looked up to see the the two hatches swing shut, closing the trap.

_"I suspected you would fly into my plan like a hungry wolfbat, so I had this special chamber built into my ship long before setting sail; you won't be ramming your way through these walls as easily - the whole room is made of solid platinum," _the voice of Zhao giddly related,"_I'm sorry you couldn't stick around to witness my day of glory, hedgehog, but I've been preparing for this moment for years, and I'm not going to allow for any setback. Good Night, rodent..." _the sound of foot steps were heard against the metal floor, trailing out of the room which was probably a decoy room.

Sonic couldn't believe his ears; he immediately homing attacked the closed hatch a few times. When that didn't work, he dash tot eh only vent in the room, and with a long and relentless tug tore it off, but when he tried to stick his face into it, he could fit his head into the small opening (WHY did his people have to cursed with these overly bulbus noggins!?). He spin dashed against on of the walls, bouncing off and hitting the oppostie one. He rolled around the dark room as a spinning buzz saw, causing sparks to dance all over the room.

The hedgehog skidded to a clumsy halt, falling to his knees, and clutched his furry head in exasperation."I can't BELIEVE I fell for that a _third time!_" he whaled. (at least he didn't _literally_ "fall for it" the first two times...!)

Great, just perfect, now Sonic was trapped like a rat (figuratively speaking - he's _not_ a rat!) while General/Captain/Cornell/Major/Whatever-the-heck-his-title-is is off to probably take over the Northern Water Tribe! Guh, _seriously,_ how is it that every single time he tries to take out the bad guy (by which he meant mostly Egghead), that they always find a way to lure him into a trap!?

Sonic sighed, he didn't know, maybe it either that he rushes into a problem too fast, or perhaps he doesn't rush in fast enough, since he couldn't dealt with Zhao if he hadn't of taken time to gloat.

Gah well, doesn't matter now, someone was bound to come free him in a matter of time; although since it was night and he was the only one out here, that "matter of time" would most like be around twelve hours.

Well, at least Sonic wouldn't have to worry about losing sleep: right now that was all he could do, as Admiral Zhao prepared for his so called "Day of Glory".

* * *

**Looks like Sonic's in a major predicament: Will he stop Admiral Zhao from slaying the Moon Spirit?**

**Deadpool: Well, Aang didn't, so how could Sonic.**

**BECAUSE HE'S BATMAN!**

**Deadpool:...-_-...?...n-no he isn't-**

**Please Review! And tune in next time for Edge of the North, Part 2 (or atleast when I get back to it...)**


	23. Harmonic Convergence

**Alright...**

**Deadpool: Yes...**

**Here it is, fellow readers...**

**Deadpool: **_**Yes...**_

**After three years of stalling and filler and exposition...**

**Deadpool: OH yes...!**

**Even though technically it already happened before but that last chapter didn't count because it wasn't real...!**

**Deadpool:Y**_**eaaaaaaaahyus...!**_

**The chapter you've all been waiting for is FINALLY UPON US!**

**Deadpool: YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!**

**AZULA AND EGGMAN FALL IN LOVE!**

***dead silence***

**Deadpool:-_- ...?**

**Cole: -_o...?**

**Grimlock: 0_0...!?**

***looks around*...What...?**

**Vegeta: Your stupid romance chapter is gone: I vaporized it out of revenge for you not updating my story for almost a YEAR! Have fun, human! *flies through ceiling***

***snaps finger* aw dangit! *sighs* I guess I'll just have to post the chapter where Team Avatar and Team Sonic meet eachother instead...**

**Deadpool:...Whuuuut...?**

**Yeah, the chapter where the Gaang and Sonic Heroes finally meet - that was kinda' the whole premise of this story is that they meet.**

**Deadpool: o_o...**

**Cole: o_0...**

**Grimlock: OoO!? !?**

***looks around again*...What...!?**

* * *

_**Previously, on the Element of Emerald...**_

_*FLASH*_

_It seemed like a wise action to simply leave the cursed artifact be and get on with his life; but the echidna couldn't help but think of all the people who will one day come across it like he did and throw it out of pure curiosity. And for that matter, who was to say he was the first?_

_"Better let Tails see this thing..." hesitantly picking the boomerang back up, this time sure not to drop it. The echidna then continued he ourney through the dead forest, intent on getting some answers._

_*FLASH*_

_"Amy, Silver, man am I glad to see you..." Tails beamed; he then looked around."uhh...Did I...miss something here?" he wondered aloud, the clearing resonatiing with the moans from the barely conscious tribesman._

_"Oh, just a little miss understanding is all..." Amy explained jokely._

_"So you're here too? That's got to mean the others are around..." Silver deduced,"Did you find anything interesting?"_

_The young fox chuckled."Boy haven't I? Just wait till you hear where we are this time..."_

_*FLASH*_

_"We could still look for the Avatar, but what if we can't find Sonic? I don't know..." Tails raised a flexed finger to his lips_

_*FLASH*_

_"Then you to should go look for him," Silver said._

_"Wait, you mean you wanna split up?" Tails asked._

_"Look, things are bigger than we thought they were. If Eggman is here, then that means he still has the ARK; you two need to find the other and regroup..."_

_*FLASH*_

_Shadow didn't know what to make of all that had had witnesses on this land, but one thing was for sure: that Avatar had a Chaos Emerald, and the hedgehog was going to have to get it back. But for now, he setteled for skating after the bison, intent on following the Avatar whereever he was going to._

_Eventually, Shadow was going to have to confront him._

_*FLASH*_

_"Hang on, if the scary heat-monster is dead, why are we headed toward the Earth Kingdom?"_

_"Because there's something more to everything that's happened that we haven't figured out yet; I need to understand," he explained._

_*FLASH*_

_"so...Where are going now?" Zuko turned back to his student._

_Aang took a deep breath; he wasn't sure how to phrase this without gaining weird stares, so he decided to articulate it as clear as he understood it:_

_*FLASH*_

_Kori looked to and from the lookout, trying to see something; her attention snapped toward a singular figure wlakiingtoward the gate. As the figure came closer, she recognized it to be her father. Kori immediately lept off the lookout and touchdown upon the ground, softening her landing with earthbending. The two ran for eachother and hugged feircey, tears seeping from their eyelids._

_The girl opened her eyes just once, and managed to see Sonic the Hedgehog, luminated by the orange hue of the sunset, standing on the edge of a plateau, smiling and resting his fist on his hip. The hedgehog winked, and sped off into the horizon._

_*FLASH*_

_"Where going to find the blue hedgehog."_

_*FLASH*_

* * *

**Book Five**

**Emerald**

**Chapter five**

**Harmonic ****Convergence**

* * *

An arrow was drawn towards Foggy Swamp.

"That lil' blue thing?" Doo began,"Well shoot, I seen 'em face to face. I gave em' directions to Omashu..."

"Yeah, _bad_ directions..." Tho added.

"You hush now!" Snapped Doo."Anyways, you could head to Misty Palms Oasis and see what ya find there..."

The Foggy Swamp is crossed out, and an arrow is drawn from Foggy Swamp to Si Wong Desert.

"The hedgehog, eh?" the sandbender recalled,"He wasn't exactly hard to see, blowing in here like he did; he took a look around in the flower shop before setting out north west," he chuckled," at the rate he was going, I'd say he's way up in the northern hemisphere by now..."

Si Wong Desert was crossed off, and and arrow was drawn from Si Wong Desert to Fishing Village.

"Yeah, I saw 'em," related the old fisherman rather unenthusiasticly,"I was mindin' ma own busniess in ma boat, when outta nowhere, this blue porcupine thing came into the horizon running on the ocean surface like gravity didn't even matter! I'd say he was about as tall as you two!" he observed."I was so surprised that I dropped ma' load all over the deck! Had to spend the next hour scoopin' all the fish back into the net!"

"Oh please, it didn't take _that_ long, you lazy old coot!" his old wife scoffed.

"It sure _felt_ like an hour; and if yer bones can feel the weather, I rekkon mine can tell time!" the elder replied."Anyway, judgin' by the time o' day, I'd say he was headin' straight down south."

The Fishing Village was crossed off, and an arrow was drawn towards Hei Bai Village.

"We were being harassed by these renegade earthbenders, all held up in the town hall...and then he came," the governor remembered,"It was so fast and so powerful, one would have thought it was the great forest spirit, but the spirit I met was _far_ different. He asked me if I knew of any other villages under attack by these renegades; a recent traveler spoke of a town far far southwest - a poor dry village south of a great desert.

Hei Bai Village was crossed off, and and arrow was drawn from Hei Bai Village to Plains Village.

"He was amazing!" the buck-toothed child beamed.

"Quiet, dear," the boy's mother corrected.

"Well he was! there I was, a gang of bad earthbenders from all sides, when suddenly the wind picked up and out came the Blue Spirit like a hurricane! He was thrashing 'em all about, and he scared 'em all away!"

"Would've made the Fire Lord impressed if he saw it himself," the father remarked.

"Out of gratitude, we asked if he could stay for a meal, to which he accepted happily," the mother said,"We talked about many things; somehow, talk of Kyoshi Island came up; when he found out that the island's home warrior's were away, he decided to leave for there and check on the island to make sure it was safe from trouble."

Plains Village was crossed off, and an arrow was drawn towards Kyoshi Island.

"AHHHHHH! FLYING DEMON FOX! PLEASE DON'T EAT MY SOOOOUUUULLL!" the young man shrieked, so terrified that he was foaming at the mouth.

Amy and Tails stared in confusion...

"...we just wanted to know where Sonic went..." Tails explained meekly.

The teen paused, enveloping the three in an awkward silence...

"...oh...w-Well, um, he said he was heading for Yu Dao..." the foaming teen explained, lazily pointing in the given direction.

* * *

The yellow fox and pink hedgehog had been spending the past five days searching for their beloved blue friend, exploring the Earth Kingdom extensively, talking to people, and occasionally fighting off bands of renegade earthbenders. So far, the two had arrived at the the latest Sonic sighting - the great city of Yu Dao, hoping that their fastest friend alive found it interesting enough to stay.

The two were currently sitting at a table outside of a resturant in the eating district; they had dawned hoods and cloaks to reduce conspicuousness.

"Okay, we're getting closer," Tails began, reading a map off the city,"Between the food places and historical sights, this place has enough to keep Sonic's interest; also there've been an awful lot of earthbender activity around this region, so maybe Sonic would want to stay to protect this place..."

Amy sighed, rest her chin on her wrist."Tails, there's not enough fun things on this world to keep Sonic in one place, let alone one city."

"I know, Amy, but we can't give up hope: Sonic doesn't know that we're here, or better yet, that _Eggman's_ here; we gotta find him so we can stop Eggman from taking over this defenseless world," the fox explained.

"I don't mean to burst your bubble, Tails, but _this place isn't exactly 'defenseless'..._" the hedgehogette whispered with shifty eyes,"A lot of these people can control the earth just like the renegades, and I'm pretty sure Eggman would never see that coming. Besides, isn't that why we were looking for the Avatar? Everybody keeps talking about how he's the most powerful man in the world, and if _these_ people are any indication, I'm sure he could take on Eggman. I'm sorry, Tails, I like Sonic and all, but I think we should've gone with Silver..." she admitted glumy.

Tails looked at the map sadly."I know..." he sighed,"Maybe you're right: the only way we find Sonic is if he finds us; maybe, in the mean time, we should do what Silver said and try to look for the others, like maybe Rouge or the Chaotix or Shadow or-"

"YOU CALL THIS A QUALITY BEVERAGE!?" an angry voice thundered; an instant after, the sound of wood getting smashed sounded abruptly.

Tails didn't have to turn around to figure out where it came from - he merely had to finish his sentence."...Knuckles..." he concluded half-heartedly.

The two immediately arose and ran into the nearby "Sweet Aroma Teahouse", where they found a rather unexpected (but not surprising) scene unfolding...

"THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE _WORST TEA_ I HAVE EVER TASTED!" Knuckles the Echidna shouted at the top of his lungs at the tender, who was cowering before the feet of the angry echidna; Tails and Any noticed a jagged gap in the counter between Knuckles and the tender - judging by the noise from before, Knuckles had smashed part of the counter with his fist."THIS IS NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF HOT LEAF JUICE, AND IT'S NOT EVEN HOT! HOW THE HECK DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM MY NERVES WITH _**COLD TEA!?**_" he furiously demanded of the man.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" the middle-aged tender begged, sweat dripping from his forehead and shivering vigorously,"th-That really wasn't my best flavor! And it cools quickly! I'll give you another kind for free, just PLEASE don't hurt me...!" he cried.

Another thing that Tails and Amy noticed was Rouge the Bat sitting on the counter a few feet away from where Knuckles was, sipping some tea while watching the deboggle.

Tails and Amy glared at Rouge, who had noticed them earlier."What? It _was _pretty cold..." the bat excused herself, taking another sip.

"How's about I 'cool' your FACE, ya two-timin' JERK...!" the red echidna continued, seizing him by his collar an raising what looked like a blue boomerang in his other hand.

"Knuckles, stop it!" Tails finally shouted.

At the sound of his voice, Knuckles snapped his head around to see his friend."Tails? Amy? What're you guys doin' here?" he asked genuinely as a stark contrast to his previous enraged tone.

The fox rushed over to Knuckles and pried his grip from the man's shirt."We're _sooo_ sorry, sir! We'll pay for all the damage or find someone who can!"

"Why should _we_ have to pay!? HE'S the one with the bad tea...!" Knuckles defended his actions, pointing the bone weapon at the man.

Suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing sounded behind them; they looked out of the store to see a ostrichhorse-drawn carriage, with a couple men holding nets coming out.

"Uh-oh, animal control!" Tails realized.

"There they are!" one man pointed out.

"This place have a back door?" Amy quickly asked the tender, who nodded rapidly.

"Time to run!" Rouge announced dashing off the counter and into the back of the teashop.

"I do not run!" Knuckles protested, before Amy yanked him by his wrist to follow Tails and Rouge.

As soon as they went into the alleyway, Rouge began looking for a spot to hide."Quick! the trashcans!"

The four scrambled into their own respective cans; seconds later, the catchers popped out the back, and ran past them...

_"I think we're clear..."_ Rouge whispered.

_"Yeah, it figures YOU'D be used to this, ya jewel thief..." _Knuckles snipped.

An exasperated moan emerged from her can._"For the LAST time, I'm a SPY - the jewel theif-thing was just a cover to get into the ARK, remember!?"_

_"All I remember is SOMEBODY trying to steal my Master Emerald! You coulda' told me you were an agent at least!"_

_"Will you guys be quiet!?_" Tails hissed in his can.

"Why? No one is here to hear us..." Amy observed, rising out of her can.

The other three followed suit.

Tails groaned."Guys, we can't go on like this; we've got to keep a lower profile..."

"And how are we gonna do that!?" Knuckles demanded,"Are we gonna 'disguise' ourselves or something? It's not like there's a little shack around here that sells really big masks and hooded robes meant conveniently for short people..."

Out of pure coincidence, there happened to be a small shack within clear view outside the ally, with a dweebish man holding a large wooden mask for all to see."Step right up, people! Step right up and get your oversized masks and little hooded robes for you diminutive folk! you can always count on _Chu's Hooded Robe and Over-sized Mask Emporium _to have all you could ever need for a quick and convenient disguise!"

The anthropoids were taken back by this striking instance of luck.

"Knuckles, did I ever tell you how handsome you are?" Rouge inquired, stroking the confused echidna's cranium.

* * *

Else where in the city, a different party was navigating their way through the streets of Yu Dao; though remarkably alternative if appearance, unknown to others they had the very same goal.

"Do we _really_ have to where these disguises again? It's not like there's still a price on your arrow..." Toph complained, never enjoying the feeling of Fire Nation fabric.

Aang sighed."I can't let my fame and glory get in the way of our mission; if word gets out about you know what, the whole city will explode into celebration and it'll take us _forever_ to find what were looking for..."

The group known as Team Avatar, with the exception of Sokka, were currently all wearing their original disguises worn through there trek through the Fire Nation prior to Sozin's Comet, with Aang getting the idea to don a wig along with the headband to safely cover his arrow; Zuko was cloaked in a dark red coat and wore an eye patch over his scarred eye.

"They won't 'explode' as much as I will if Sokka doesn't take off that _stupid space outfit! That squeaking is driving me crazy!" _she scream/whispered.

Sokka chuckled."You're just jealous because my suit doubles as both the perfect armor and a great disguise," he speculated, widening the swinging arc of his arms to intentionally increase the amount of squeaking.

"_Speaking_ of our mission," Zuko interjected,"You said something about a hedgehog before we left, and you haven't really spoken of it since; do you mind illuminating us?" he requested.

The Avatar's posture faltered upon the firebender's words."l-Look, I'm not entirely sure what we're looking for..."

Even Katara had to exhale at this."Then why are we looking for it? If this 'Blue Spirit' were important or even _real_, I'm sure he wouldn't be this hard to find."

"Or he could at least have the guts to confront us himself..." Toph added.

Zuko eyed the two girls blanky."Um, guys, you know I'm _right next to you_, right?" he reminded.

"Not you, Zuko..." Sokka reminded, raising a squeaky finger.

Aang tried to make sense of the visions he received."All I'm sure of is that this blue hedgehog is from Eggman's own world; either that or Space Colony ARK was his home and Eggman took it from him..."

"Wouldn't that mean the hedgepig-thing is dead?" Toph wondered.

"If that were so, we wouldn't be hearing stories about him on our _own_ world," Zuko said.

"So what are we supposed to do? Just keep walking around until we find him?" Katara asked.

Sokka chuckled."Dah, with our luck, Aang will probably walk right into a friend of his..."

Aang turned to his friend."Sokka, quit joking aroun-"

The bot was suddenly cut off upon bumping into a small hooded individual with white gloves and an over-sized fox mask.

"Dohuuh- I'm so sorry! I should've seen you coming...!" the masked person apologized, quickly readujusting his mask.

Aang raised his hand in guilt."No, it's my fault, I wasn't looking..." he explained.

The hooded figure quietly and hurriedly walked by, followed by three other short hooded figures.

As they passed Toph, the blind girl nearly froze in her step, attaining a breif dumbfounded expression...she shook her head."Weirdos..." she dissmissed.

"As I was saying," Aang continued,"We should try to find an officer or someone really important; if the spirit were really here, the government would know."

As he said that, Katara noticed a piece of paper on a lamp post."Hey, guys, come look at this!"

The other four stopped and centered around Katara, who placed her finger onto the paper."It says there's going to be a city conference at noon; I think that's today!"

"Hmf! Just today!?"

The four (minus Toph) straightened their backs in surprise, and simultaneously turned around to see a middle-aged man wearing an apron who had his arms cross - clearly he was not in the brightest of moods.

"There have been city conferences every noon for a week! All of Yu Dao has been in complete dissarray ever since that blue spirit showed up...!"

The Gaang looked hysterical.

"You saw the Blue Spirit!?" Aang blerted out.

He snorted."No, I was hiding in my cellar at the time; but I certainly got acquainted with the _Red_ Spirit earlier..."

The Gaang looked even more hysterical.

"...He scared my customers away and left my tea shop in shambles! And what's worse, that Purple Spirit just sat there and watched!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! So, there's more than one spirit!?" Sokka vocalized.

He shrugged."Apparently so, but everyone else just thought they were wild animals and left to alert animal control; but they vanished as quickly as they came. If you want to ask about that blue one my wife won't shut up about, go to the conference; _I'm _going home!" he pouted, walking off.

"These spirits don't sound so nice..." Toph observed."Looks like were gonna have to get our hands dirty...sweet..." she reveled.

"We're not fighting anybody..." Aang corrected, looking at the enormous city hall in the distance,"We've got to get to that meeting."

But unknown to them all, from the orange tiled edge of a rooftop, a certain shadow watched over the Avatar, having never lost sight of the boy since they left the capitol.

* * *

"Awwww, come on! Do we really have to go to some dumb conference!?" the conveniently disguised Knuckles complained, wearing a red monkey mask."Wait a second, since when can you read Chinese!?"

The conveniently disguised Tails kept his limited vision (due to the fox mask) upon the paper glued to the back of the bench."We have to do it, Knuckles; this is the biggest and most advanced city we've been in so far, besides Omashu I guess; surely their government receives the most recent information on where Sonic has been."

"Couldn't we just ask someone around here about Sonic?" Knuckles wondered. "Everybody keeps making such a big deal out of him..."

"Sorry, but I am _not_ going to allow a repeat of the events in that tea shop," Rouge (who was wearing a white hooded robe with a pretty purple cat mask) sneered."Besides, this place is probably the whole world's medium for communication, I wouldn't be surprised if they've invented the telegram yet." She speculated, right before a mysterious beeping noise buzzed from inside Rouge's right sleeve; she pulled her sleeve back revealing a watch on her wrist with a red light that blinked on and off."Oh dear, it's him..."

"Who?" the robed and pink kitty-masked Amy asked.

"My apologies, people, I have to take this call..." she replied, then dashing away.

"Hey! Where you going!?" Knuckles demanded.

"Just leave her be, Knuckles," Tails advised,"She has her own business, let's just stick to ours..."

"Welp'. city conference it is!" Amy beamed for the sake of optimism.

Rouge swerved into another alleyway; once halfway in and no one to see her, she abandoned her mask and robe and spread her purple wings, soaring up the alley and out from between the buildings.

Rouge glided far over the city, trying to find the cause of the alert, using the increasing rate of beeping to locate the "mystery caller"...which she eventually found, standing on the edge of a building not too far away from where she took off, leaning over the edge as if he were spying on someone. He didn't seem to notice (or at least care) when she landed.

"So, ya have a nice tea-time with the Fire Lord?" Rouge asked Shadow, palm on hip.

"If you're referring to gaining any information about Dr. Eggman, I got barely enough to be considered legitimate..." the black hedgehog replied with looking,"I did however come across something a bit more worth my time..."

"More worth it than getting your hands on Eggman? This I've _got_ to hear..." the white bat dramatized.

"See that little boy down there?" he asked, directing his finger at his latest target.

Rouge leaned over next to Shadow."You mean that guy in the space suit?"

"The boy next to him is the Avatar." Shadow revealed.

"That supposed to mean something to me?" Rouge inquired indifferently.

"For starters, he's got a Chaos Emerald."

"_ooooh_, I'm listening..." Rouge purred.

"I've been tracking him for a couple days now; I'm not sure what he's looking for, but it's of no concern to us." Shadow explained ( intentionally leaving out a few important details).

"So what're we waiting for? I'll just swoop in and..."

"Not a good idea," Shadow interrupted,"I've seen these children in action: they're bending ability is much more refined than the ordinary lot..."

"If it's back up you want, then I could just go back and let the 'Sonic Heroes' know..."

The black hedgehog perked up."Sonic?"

"No, just the fan club," Rouge said,"There close by; you might not be able to distinguish them though, they're 'pretty inconspicuous'..." she joked, pointing her own finger down at the three.

All Shadow saw were three short figures wearing probably the worst disguises he'd ever seen."Do they _really_ expect anyone to go for that?"

"They're headed to the city hall to ask the mayor about the last time he's heard of the 'Blue Spirit' " Rouge told, now noticing the familiar direction."Come to think of it...I'd say those kids are heading for the conference as well..."

"Well then, it looks like this problem is about to solve itself very soon..." Shadow calculated.

* * *

Mayor Morishita did some last minute grooming before exiting his office, using a vase as a mirror as he licked his palm and glossed his hair with it, and adjusting his hair piece. The mayor had gotten plenty of practice with that from an entire week of daily conferences, having to constantly address the city since the earthbender rebellion, which perhaps no one was more anxious about than himself: these raids have been reoccurring all over the Earth Kingdom; dozens of colonies attacked, forts assaulted, coal mines collapsed, factories sabotaged, there was even an account - a story really - of a lone cabbage merchant who was confused for a War sympathizer, and barely escaped a band of earthbenders with his life (and his cabbages). And yet, even after a _month_ worth's of recorded incidents, the mayor had STILL yet to receive any of the slightest implication that the Fire Lord is dealing with these incidents, or even _heard_ of for that matter!

Morishita couldn't get it - message after message, scroll after scroll, hawk after hawk, for weeks on end and still nothing, not even after his own city had been raided - sure a small village or two doesn't seem anything to jump over, but it takes a _lot_ of raiders to overtake a city _this big..._!

He didn't know, perhaps there actually were other important matters distracting his nation's lord, not that he could comprehend a matter more pressing than his...

What if that crazed rebel leader was right? What if the Fire Lord simply didn't care?

_What if the Avatar didn't care...?_

"Honey, it's time to come out: the guards are immobilizing..." the voice of his wife reminded.

Not that she needed to - he could hear the torrent of screaming from where he was.

Morishita sighed, if he could not control his own people, he didn't know what he'd do, resign perhaps."I'm on my way, Dear..."

The mayor stepped out through the door of his office; not surprisingly, he found his daughter sitting cross-legged to the left of the entrance; he stared long enough to make her look back.

"...Father, when is Sonnek coming back...?"

Morishita really wished she'd stop asking, not because he was tired of hearing, but because every time she did, Morishita could offer no answer, and the mayor was once again forced to behold his daughters angst in all its form.

Not this time, Morishita thought; this time, he mustered up enough strength to simply look away and continue walking: Morishia couldn't make the Blue Spirit come back, only the Avatar could do that.

* * *

After a few more minutes of walking, the people headed for the conference had to walk up a long set of wide stairs, as wide as the building itself, up to a broad, flat courtyard before city hall, where a growing (in both and restlessness) crowd gathered before the hall's main entrance. a large stage had been earthbent for the mayor to see the whole crowd (also, in case the off chance he'd be swarmed by an angry mob).

Most of the crowd were demanding the mayor's presence, others were shouting about certain things that made no sense to Team Avatar (or to the other team).

"Wait, I'm confused, were they attacked by earthbenders, or an earth_quake_?" Katara wondered.

"It sounds like both..." Toph observed.

"These citizens are obviously delusional; how could there be an earthquake in _my_ colony without me knowing it?" Zuko dismissed.

* * *

"huh, This looks like quite the gathering..." Rouge observed.

She and Shadow had climbed up from behind the building up to the roof and were now taking advantage roof's ridge to conceal themselves while spying down at the crowd.

"Yes, human democracy at its finest," Shadow drolled."Now, when I'm ready, I'll jump down there and cause a diversion while you get the Chaos emerald."

"Shouldn't it be me who cause the diversion?" Rouge offered."I _am_ the pretty one, after all..." she feigned, flicking her short hair.

Shadow rolled his red eyes."Perhaps if we had Omega, we could both go for it; honestly, I was never good with stealth - it has to be you who snatches it."

Rouge sighed."Fair enough: as long as I don't get pelted with fireballs..."

* * *

Momo soared through the sky, chasing an unlucky beetlemantis through the air. the chase took the lemur into the city hall, whisping through hallways, scaring guards, and almost causing Kori to fall over. They continued out the window, but but long after, Momo snagged his target within his monkey jaws. the Lemur glided onto the building's rooftop to rest and spit out his prey into his tiny pause to properly consume it.

Before he took his first bite, a strange scent caught his nose; curious, Momo looked away from the bug to see a sight that nearly made Momo drop his catch: seated upon a higher level of the rooftop was the most beautiful white bat-like creature he had ever seen. The lemur's ear's drooped to the floor as he purred at a pitch much lower than usual.

Rouge smirked as she peered down at the boy in the crowd...when suddenly, the sound of purring gained her attention. She turned to her right to see what looked like a white lemur sitting right next to her, staring at her with large eyes.

Rouge didn't know why, but she found that look in its eyes rather unsettling; her immediate response was to shoo it away with her hand, which prompted it to hop a few feet away...

...But then the lemur crawled back next to her, still purring...

* * *

"Look at all these people..." Amy marveled.

"How the heck are gonna find Sonic in this crowd!?" Knuckles complained.

"Sonic's not here, Knuckles!" Tails reminded."At least, I don't think he is..."

The yelling intensified even further upon sight of the plump mayor exiting the entrance, trotting over to the podium at the end of the stage."People! People! PLEASE QUIET DOWN!" the mayor begged through a metal funnel.

Thankfully, the crowd gradually settled in volume, at least quiet enough for Morishita to be heard clearly.

"People, I understand your woes and misunderstandings; I have tried nigh _countless times_ to contact the Fire Lord, even before our own city was raided! I'm doing the best I can, but I still have yet to receive any notice of a response!"

Clearly the citizens of Yu Dao did not care for that response, as they once again erupted into a furious wave of yelling and angry rants.

"Okay, than it _was_ earthbenders..." Sokka concluded.

"Raid? I was never notified about a raid..." Zuko admitted.

"How come no one told us!?" Toph growled.

"Aang, you have to get up there, they need you!" Katara pleaded.

The Avatar looked unsure."I don't know if I should do that; we could get attacked..."

"Since when did getting attacked matter!? You're the Avatar, remember!?" Toph managed to shout over the uproar.

"The Fire Nation attacking the Avatar - not good for peace; only reason _I'm_ not going up there is because I don't wanna get attacked either..." he explained flatly.

Team Avatar could only stare (this time, even Toph tried to) in confusion at their Fire Lord.

* * *

"My my, looks like this metropolis is crumbling before our very eyes-_shoo _..." Rouge lamented while still trying to shoo the annoying lemur away.

"They can tear their government apart all they like, it doesn't matter to me..." Shadow remarked. to him, they do it all the time."All I care about is the Chaos Emerald. Just wait for the others to distract them; if they don't I'll jump down there and get their attention while you go for the emerald."

"I-_shoo-_heard you the I first-_go away _-time..." she tried her best to retort.

Perturbed by her mumbling, the black hedgehog finally turned to behold Rouge's predicament."What are you doing?" he queried monotone.

"It's this monkey thing, it won't go away-_go!_" she tried more aggressively; but unfortunately, the lemur seemed to enjoy that.

Shadow rolled his red eyes."Well whatever it wants, just give it to him so it won't distract us..." he concluded, focusing on the crowd.

* * *

"Why are they so mad at _him_ for?" Amy wondered."It's not his fault the Fire Lord is a stuffy jerk..."

"I think there's more to it than that, Amy..." Tails speculated."Remember that this world just finished a War between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom; maybe the Fire Lord is afraid to do something about the raids because it might start a war again..."

"So he's just gonna hide behind his throne and do nothing?" Knuckles replied."What a total coward! Those crazy earth-guys are tearin-up everything and he's not enough of a man to confront it!? Forget this guy!"

"YEAH! Forget the Avatar too!" a random man who overheard Knuckles agreed.

Unfortunately, this idea spread among the already angry crowd like wildfire, shifting the entire gathering's words against the Avatar.

Tails and Amy stared at Knuckles, no doubt bearing glares behind their masks.

"...What?...What!?" Knuckles demanded, not liking their stares.

"PEOPLE!" the mayor shouted through his funnel."Will you please quiet down! I've done everything I could to get the Avatar's attention! It's not my fault he DOESN'T CARE ABOUT US! ! !" he whaled furiously, honestly agreeing with the crowd.

**"I BEG YOUR PARDON!? !? !?"** thundered a sudden voice in the crowd, that resonated with such gusto it instantaneously brought dead silence to the area...

All eyes were on a lone finger raised above the crowd, and that finger belonged to Sokka."Who in the ten THOUSAND suns are YOU to blame the Avatar for YOUR shortcomings!?" he shouted, flinging his finger at the mayor with all his might.

_"Sokka, what're you __doing_!?" Aang gritted under his teeth.

"Not now, Aang, I'm sick of this guy...!" he replied, gripping Aang's collar and dragging him through the crowd, his suit squeaking all the way, the rest of the Gaang slaves to follow."You bigshots are _aaalll _alike, you think you just know how life works and try make EVEREHBUDDY else suffer for _your_ inability to act! Well not THIS time, pudgey!"

* * *

"Who's speaking? I can't see him!" Amy whined, her sight obscured by the taller humans.

"It must be an Avatar supporter..." Tails speculated.

"If that's guy's face matches up with his _voice_, I'm glad I _can't_ see'em..." Knuckles grumbled.

* * *

"Who's that idiot?" Rouge wondered, right before the lemur latched its limbs around her boot, frightening her.

Shadow was tempted to smirk, ignoring his partner's dilemma."Yeah, that's right: single yourselves out from the crowd, it'll just make things go much smoother..."

* * *

"I'll have you know that the Avatar cares about the whole world! _including_ the Fire Nation; so don't think for one ROYAL SECOND you can use his absence as an excuse to save your approval ratings!"

"And just _who_ are _you!?_" the mayor demanded, by this time, the suited warrior was standing just before the mayor's podium.

"Who am I!? WHO AM _I!?_ The more appropriate question is: who is THIS!?" he corrected, placing his gloved hand roughly against his friend's chest.

_"Sokka, I'm begging you...!_" the boy pleaded.

"_oooooh_no! It's too late for that, Twinkle Toes...!" Sokka persisted, climbing onto the stage while pulling Aang up with him."Ladies and gentlemen, you've all waited long enough for this moment, and it's time we _all_ got some answers. At you're unanimous and undivided request, may I present to you..." in one motion, he tore off the boy's wig, revealing his arrow for all to see,"AVATAR AANG!"

The whole crowd was stone silent...then erupted in countless indistinguishable cries of praise and happiness.

Mayor Morishita was inches close to having a heart attack upon sight of him.

Tails eyes nearly exploded out of his mask."THE AVATAR!? HERE!? NOW!?"

"I don't get it! What's the big deal!?" Knuckles barely managed to say over the yelling.

"Knuckles!" Amy cried."That's the person we've been looking for this whole time! The Avatar is the guardian of the whole world and the most powerfull bender of them all!"

" 'Most powerfull bender'!? It's just some kid with an arrow on his head!" Knuckles observed.

"Dumby! The Avatar is over a hundred years old; he just _looks_ young!" Amy pouted."Oh this _perfect_, Tails! Now we can finally talk to him!"

It was at this moment that the disguised fox suddenly gained a sensation akin to stage-fright."uuuh...we-Well, I dunno...w-What I am I supposed to say to him...?" he wondered nervously, never really counting on ever having to confront the legendary Avatar.

"AND HE'S NOT ALONE EITHER...!" called another voice.

"Huh? Who now...?" Tails questioned.

The three saw a third person climbing from the crowd, followed by two girls.

"Citizens of Yu Dao, you're cries _have_ been heard!" the young hooded man announced, removing both his hood and eye-patch."YOUR FIRE LORD IS HERE! !"

"WE'RE _ALL_ HERE!" Katara shouted.

"GOOOOD MORNIN', YU DAO!" Toph fist-pumped into the air.

The crowd tried its darndest to scream even louder than before.

Kori frantically skidded to a stop upon the building's left balcony, peering over the railing to make sure her ears did not deceive her; they did not, as she clearly saw _both_ the Avatar and Fire Lord standing side my side. She could help but smile openly - it was a dream come true.

At this point, the mayor had to attribute his lack of cardiac arrest to some divine presence; he settled with falling to his knees in pure reverence."ff-Fire-Avat-Fava-Avre..." he babbled, not sure who to pay homage to first."th-Thank you, just THANK you for finally answering my messages!" he gratified.

"Messages?" Aang quoted."I never received any messages..."

This caused the mayor's homage to a halt; he looked up at the Avatar in total confusion."w-What?...th-then why _did_ you come here!?" he queried.

"Welp', it's a long story, mayor, but the short part is we're here for the Blue Spirit." Toph explained.

The three shared glances.

"Did she say 'Blue Spirit'...?" Amy asked slowly.

_"Sonic..."_ Tails whispered with a smile behind the mask.

The mayor sprung to his hie feet."The Blue Spirit!? Th-Then you MUST've received my letters!" he concluded with open hands.

"Like she said, it's a long story..." Aang affirmed.

The mayor dropped his hands."Oh I see...well, I'm sorry to say the Blue Spirit has long departed from this city."

A sigh from Toph."No surprise there..."

"Do you have any idea where he might've gone?" Zuko asked.

Morishita, shrugged."I have no idea where he left - he escorted me back to the city and I never saw him again..." he said sadly...he then looked back at his Fire Lord."Have...you really not heard anything else about this city...?"

As the mayor asked this, something from above was caught in the corner of Katara's eye, although it was kind of far away; she squinted her eyes...and allowed her mouth to hang open upon realizing what was staring back down at her."...um...Mr. Mayor sir? Are you sure the Blue Spirit didn't forget anything when he left...?" she asked nervously.

The mayor was puzzled by her question, as were everyone within earshot."n-no, Why do you ask?"

"...b-because..." she pointed into the sky,"...He's back."

Stunned by her statement, all swerved their heads to follow the waterbender's finger: far out to the left of the building hung a certain figure in the sky. The naive citizens cheered on for a third time at their supposed savior; but a few members of the crowd knew better...

"Is that who I think it is?" Amy vocalized.

"Well, he _was_ looking for him..." Tails replied.

"What's he doin' up there?" Knuckles wondered.

"Oh, _chaos_, not _him_ again..." Shadow grimaced.

"I guess it was only a matter of time until _he_ showed up..." Rouge consigned.

Sokka tried to shield the sun's glare with his gloved hand as he beheld the figure in the sky."Hang on, you sure that's a _blue_ spirit?" he queried with a raised brow,"It looks more like a _silvery grey_ from here..."

From where he floated, Silver snorted."So you finally decide to show yourself..." he said to himself. In the next beat, Silver blasted forth straight for the stage.

All who witnessed looked on in shock as the being rocketed down as a large cyan missile.

SIlver slammed foot and hand-first onto the left end of the stage with a small physic shockwave.

Team Avatar stood in awe at the hedgehog's abrupt presence; the hedgehog slowly arose to full height, his eyes baring an strangely hostile glare.

The confused Tails paused, now paying attention to the grey hedgehog's expression as he slowly reared up to his feet, staring forward with a glare that appeared rather..._menacing..._"...why...is he looking at the Avatar like that...?"

Unfortunately, Aang was far too excited to notice the look in his eyes."You're here! It's so good to finally meet you...!" the smiling airbender greeted warmly, walking toward Silver with his arm extended."You look a lot different from my vision but-"

However, Silver seemingly payed no mind to the boy as he silently walked past him, forcing Aang to pause in midstep.

Amy blinked in total confusion."wwwwwwwut is he doing...?"

Silver stopped after two feet from the boy, still staring forward."It took me a while, but I finally found you, Fire Lord Zuko!" he announced loudly, throwing his finger at Zuko's face.

At this point, gasps were a given; all eyes were on the firebender.

Zuko blinked in bewilderment "w-Why are you looking at me like that? What did _I_ do!?" Zuko demanded.

The rest of the Avatar Team could only look back and forth between the hedgehog and the young Fire Lord.

"Don't you play innocent with me, buddy! I've seen what you and your so called 'harmony movement' is doing to this world, and I can see _right_ through that innocent little facade of yours!" Silver persisted.

"Seriously: What the actual heck is he doing?" Knuckles inquired.

Aang found it in himself to step in front of Silver, his arms spread."Hey, if you've got a problem with the harmony movement, then you need to take it up with me." he told the hedgehog firmly.

Silver rolled his eyes."Look kid, I'll sign your forehead later, now if you excuse me...!" Silver used his phycic power to send Aang flying across the stage, back into Sokka's arms.

All stared in shock and horror at the hedgehog's irreverence.

"_ooooh,_ you did _not_..." Toph breathed.

"Who do you think you are pushing Aang around like that!?" Katara growled, throwing her own finger at him.

"I _think_ I'm trying to save the whole world from _that_ guy's evil clutches, thank you very much!" he pointed at Zuko yet again, hunched over in frustration.

_"What is he doing!?"_ Tails squeaked, clutching his mask.

In the next moment, a dozen firebenders poured out of the building , wasting no time to form an offensive circle around the hedghog, getting ready to fry the animal for offending their monarch.

"Just say the word, your majesty..."

"Seriously...?" Silver sighed in a monotone. He raised his hand, and smacked the ground, creating an electrical pulse that spread out ward and stunned the guards, instantly knocking them out; with a wave of the hand, he swept the guards into the air and onto the crowd, causing some to either catch them or split apart wide enough for the guard hit the ground."Any more ragdolls, mister tyrant?"

"Ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmygosh-ohmy_goooooosh_, Silver's gone crazy!" Amy panicked.

"Whoah woah woah there, fuzzy," Sokka began after stabilizing Aang."I know you've only been on this world for a week or so, but that 'evil Fire Lord' you're talking about? Yeah, he's in prison. This is the _new_ Fire..." Sokka froze in mid sentence, only just now seeing the long black object hanging from the hedgehog's other hand,"IS THAT MY SPACE SWORD!?" his eye bugged out.

"Space-huh?" Silver mumbled, raising an eyebrow.

"GIVE THAT BACK!" the warrior yelled, mindlessly charging straight for his sword.

Aang threw his hand up to the teen."Sokka, don't-!"

Sokka didn't even make it to six feet from Silver before getting hauled off of the ground by a strange cyan energy. The audience watched in astonishment as he floated through the air, dangling his limbs helplessly."Wha?! Waaaa! Put me doooown!"

"Let go of my brother!" Katara cried.

"Yeah! Only _she's_ allowed to bloodbend him!" Toph couldn't help but crack.

Silver glared up at the stupid teen."First of all, poofy suit-guy, I know which Fire Lord that is, but at least those _other_ Fire Lords had the guts to _tell_ people they were taking over the world! Unlike _him!_" he spat, flinging Sokka back to the ground, Aang having to soften his landing with airbending.

"Why are you doing this!?" Aang pleaded the hedgehog."Zuko didn't do anything wrong!"

"I didn't!" the Fire Lord naturally agreed.

"I couldn't care less what you think about him! I've seen enough for me to know the truth!" Silver protested.

"Seen what? What have you seen to make you think that!?" Zuko demanded.

"Still goin' for that, huh?" Silver replied."I've been all across the Earth Kingdom; I've seen the riots, the factories, the _slaves_..." he grilled,"You're waging war with the world without the world even knowing it!" the hedgehog said,"But you never thought _I_ would come along, did you?"

"What are you talking about? _What_ slaves!?" Zuko sputtered.

"What _is_ Silver talking about?" Knuckles asked.

"Heck if I know..." Tails grumbled, shaking his head,"he's _supposed_ to be finding the Avatar, which he just _did!_" he complained.

"Oh no! Silver must not know that's the Avatar!" Amy speculated.

"I'm not gonna sit back and let this war mongering go on any more! You're going down, Zuko!" Silver finalized, brandishing Sokk's sword heroicly.

Toph rested his fists on her hips."Told ya we'd have to fight 'em..." she gloated, walking in front of the group."I dunno who you think you are callin' _us_ out, weidro, but you picked the _wrong_ benders to tangle with! I'll waste you faster than that loud-mouth crocodile!" she announced before stomping a large boulder out of the ground and launching it straight at Silver with deadly velocity.

But before Silver could even deflect it, something appeared in front of him and sliced the rock in have with a yellow light, the two halves sailing past Silver.

"That might be a bit harder than you think..." Shadow hissed.

Team Avatar stumbled back in surprise.

"Shadow!?" Silver balked as well.

"WOAH! Another one!" Sokka squealed.

"Shadow!? What's _he doing here!?"_ Tails wheezed.

Aang gaped: it was the black striped hedehog from his vision! The one he saw...attacking the blue hedgehog...oh no...

Zuko felt his temples."Okay, I'm confused: isn't _one of you_ supposed to be blue?"

"I'm afraid you have us confused with someone else, your highness..." Shadow explained vaguely.

"Then where _is_ the blue one?" Aang asked."And why are you two threatening us!?"

"Betcha' those two took him out..." Toph gambled.

Silver blinked." 'took him ou-' wait, you mean Sonic? Why would I take out Sonic, he's my friend!"

Tails beat the mask on his head with his fist.

"Then it looks like this 'Sonic' no friend of ours after all..." Zuko deduced.

Silver snorted."Well, not _your's_ anyway!"

"I wouldn't be concerned about making new friends right now, Fire Lord..." Shadow began."I believe your little friend there has something that belongs to us..." he continued, singleing out the boy with is stare.

Aang's face gave into his inner fear; he and Sokka shared frightened looks.

"And don't bother denying it either; I saw him use it back at the capitol," Shadow revealed.

At this revelation, the slightest twinge of confusion appeared in the Avatar's eyes."The capitol..." his fear soon transformed into anger."Did YOU start that fire!?" he exploded.

"That's none of your concern," the black hedgehog replied emotionlessly,"I'm not sure how you got your hands on that item, but I can guarantee you won't be leaving this town with it, boy..." he edged with fervor.

"Was that supposed to be a _threat_!?" Katara demanded, flipping the cap off her water pouch.

Tails anxiously tore his mask off."I can't take this anymore! I gotta get up there before it's too late!"

"Way a head of ya, buddy...!" Knuckles announced, tearing off Tails' cloak and picking him up by his waste.

"ww-Waitamintute,Knuckles,Whatreyou-WHAAAAAAAAAAA...!" Tails didn't have time to finish as the echidna launched the fox for the stage like a football.

"Aang, is he talking about what I think he is?" Zuko asked, right before a screaming yellow blur smacked right into Katara, catching his and Aang's attention.

The two slid to a halt on the ground; they open their eyes to see that Tails was lying ontop of Katara, their pupils mere centimeters from eachother.

"Um...hello there..." Tails greeted quietly, trying to ease the extreme awkwardness.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Katara shrieked in Tails face."FLYING DEMON FOX!"

"GET OFF MY SISTER, YOU SOUL-EATING FREAK! ! !" Sokka thundered as he yanked Tails off the ground by his tails.

Aang was once again stunned - the fox from his vision too!?

"GAH! WAIT, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Tails pleaded Sokka, flailing his limbs helplessly, right before an invisible force rented the fox from the warrior's grasp, bringing him safley at Silver's side.

"Tails! What're you doing here!? I thought you were looking for Sonic!" Silver reminded the fox, dropping him on his butt.

"There's that 'Sonic' name again," Zuko noted,"it seems as though a lot of people are looking for him..."

Tails didn't hear as he hopped to his feet."SILVER! Do you have _any_ idea who that is!?" he yelled, throwing his fringer at Aang.

At this Toph chuckled."Yeah, it figures that fuzzy punk wouldn't know; otherwise he'd never be stupid enough to toss him around!"

"What did you call me!?" Silver gritted, taking a step forward, but Tails got in his way.

"Silver!"

"What!? What's so darn special about the kid!?" Silver demanded.

Out of nowhere, another scream was heard as Rouge fell to the ground to Shadow's left.

_"the bat..." _Aang found himself muttering, before her noticed what was clinging to her right chin."Wait, is that...?"

"What is going on here!?" the mayor begged.

"Rouge! What's wrong with you!?" Shadow gaped.

Instead of an answer, the white bat angrily tore the lemur off of her thigh."Get OFF me you _stupid...!"_ she kicked the lemur clean off the stadium like a soccer ball.

"MOMO!" Aang whaled.

Rouge swung towards the Avatar in surprise."Wait, that thing was yours?"

"That 'thing' was _Momo!" _Katara announced furiously.

The bat crossed her arms."Oh, good, now I know who's butt to kick..." she edged.

"b-Bu-Wait! Don't fight _them!_" Tails shrinked at the idea, waving his hands frantically.

Zuko waved her own hand dismissively."No no, _please _fight us, because I'm sure that's what your two hedgehog friends came here for, right?"

"Well he's not lying about _one_ thing..." Silver retorted snarkily.

Tails was on the verge of a panic attack; he leaped in front of his friends."No! nononon_No_! We do NOT want to fight them they are _NOT_ our enemies!" the fox rapidly explained.

"Look, how'bout we skip all the mind games and do what Team Avatar does best - kick some furry butt!" Toph preposed angrily, pumping her fists together.

"I call the fox!" Katara added.

"You touch Tails and see what happens!" Amy called, landing to Tails right, followed by Knuckles.

"What she said!" Knuckles supported.

Somehow, Aang was just surprised as before: all those animals from his vision here in one place, execpt for...

_Sonic..._

Sokka smacked his forehead."Oh great, just what we need; how many more these things are gonna fall down from the sk..." Sokka had to pause once again..."BOOOMERRANG!? HE HAS MY BOOMERANG!" he threw his gloved finger at Knuckles.

"Boomer-what?"Knuckles looked at the warrior quizzicly, turning to the weapon in his hand. A few gears and cogs rotated in the echidna's brain, prompting an epiphany: "HEY! _You're_ the evil wizard that made this cursed knife thing!" he announced, pumping his fist at Sokka.

Shadow turned to Rouge."Did he truly just say what I thought he did?"

The bat shrugged.

"I'm not a wizard! I'm a _warrior!_" Sokka defended."And you two better hand over what's mine before you get what's coming!" he demanded to both Knuckles and Silver.

"And just what _is_ coming, smartguy?" the grey hedgehog inquired sharply.

"Um, I'm going to go now..." mayor Morishita decided, fleeing off the stage like a little girl.

Tails dropped to his knees before his friends."Amy, I know Knuckles is too in a mode to hear me, but _please_ just remember who that person behind me is...!"

"I couldn't care less if he were the stinkin Avator!" Silver blurted out.

" 'Avator'...?" Sokka repeated, sharing a confused glance with Katara.

"Well, While you're all here, I might as well tell you _that_ kid's got a Chaos Emerald!" Rouge boldly announced on purpose.

"_A Chaos Emerald!?"_ Silver/Knuckles echoed.

"That can't be, how on Earth did he get it!?" Amy cried.

"That's none of your business!" Aang replied.

"Oh, I think you have that backwards, child..." Shadow growled, stepping forward.

"You want the emerald!? COME AND GET IT!" Zuko challenged, regressing into a dragon stance, followed by the rest of the Gaang.

"MAKE YOUR MOVE, LOSER LORD!" Silver replied, energizing himself in phsychic energy; the other Sonic Heroes assumed battle stances as well.

Both parties stared eachother down; the air around them seemed as combustible as white phosphorous.

The crowd in front suddenly got lightfooted.

One lone individual on the stage managed to resist the tension long enough to speak: Tails zipped to the middle of the stage with is hands raised toward either side, sweat dripping from his temples."Listen to me: this is all just one big misunderstanding - all of this can be solved if we simply put our fists down for a few sec-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_AAAAAAAahhhh...!" _sent into the air by an abrupt stone column.

"ENOUGH TALK! LET'S DO THIS!" Toph shouted.

Aang and Zuko swerved together to unleash a huge fire blast.

Shadow and Silver teleported in front to fire a Chaos Lance and phycic wave.

The four attacks clashed with a enormous explosion that engulf the entire stage in smoke. forcing the terrified crowd to flee away.

Shortly after, Knuckles was sent flying out of the smoke, and touched down on the space the crowd left with Toph leaping out in front of him. She sent two boulders at Knuckes which he dashed side to side to avoid, punching two more rocks into dust; Toph sent a diagonal column of stone to knock Knuckles even further away, she rock-dashed after him. Thin streams of water darted out of the left end of the smoke, with Rouge nimbly twirling through the air, Katara hopping out of the smoke to chase her. From the right side, two fire balls flew out, before Zuko was sent flying out onto his back; Silver emerged, glowing a strong cyan; Zuko was forced to run away, Silver flying after him. Two blurs shot out of the top of the smoke and flew clean over the courtyard; Aang and Shadow landed and scootered/skated down the stairs parralel to eachother.

When the smoke finally cleared, Sokka and Amy finally opened their eyes to see they were the only ones still on the stage; they looked at eachother...

Sokka's face scrunched in disappointment."Seriously? Everybody has there own cool fight and all I get is the pink one!?" he complained, flinging his squeaky hand at the pink hedgehog.

Amy huffed."Oh, don't worry - I'll make it worth the effort..." she replied before reaching behind her and pulling out her hammer.

Sokka's eyes bugged out, having witnessed the hedgehog seemingly produce a weapon that was clearly as large her own body out of thin air._"b-Where did that...!?_"

The warrior couldn't relate his thought, as he had to leap out of the way of said hammer slamming against the stone tiles, making a small impression in the stone. The screaming Sokka fled into the city hall as Amy chased him.

_**Rival Battle**_

Aang and Shadow barreled through the street, swerving past a few people, carts, and carriages.

"Give me that CHAOS EMERALD!" Shadow demanded furiously.

"Not on your life!" was the airbender's response before swinging a gail of wind that knocked Shadow backwards, slowing him down long enough for Aang to gain a tremendous amount of distance.

Like that was going to stop Shadow...

The black hedgehog dashed at a far greater speed to catch up, rolling under vehicles and breaking down a light post or two before having his target back within few. Aang was quick to notice this; while still on his airscooter, he repeatedly punched upward in various angles, spawning a multitude of stone slabs to shoot up in Shadow's way an effort to slow him down, but Shadow nimbly swerved around and leapt over the slabs and compensated for the small delay by accelerating.

Astounded by the black hedgehog's speed, Aang made a strong turn to the right, sailing off the street past the side walk and up the chain of buildings. Shadow rolled his way up against the buildings as well. Aang desperately shot a barrage of Fire balls at Shadow which he easily evaded by skillfully timing his turns to allow each fireball to zip by. Aang turn back forward to see the chain of buildings ended at an intersection; he had no choice but to cancel his airscooter and using his momentum, flew from one end of the street to another; he kicked off of the corner of the building, followed by Shadow, and flew down the left street. The two triangle jumped down the street from one building on one side to the next.

* * *

The boulder exploded upon contact with Knuckles' fist.

Toph raised another huge boulder and hurled it.

Knuckles battered it away with a swing of his right fist, sending it smashing into the stairway to the city hall.

Toph stubbornly raised a larger hockey puck-shaped stone from the ground and launched it at him.

Knuckles ducked for a spit-second so he could uppercut the rock into the sky.

Toph took a side-ways ironhorse stance, raised her fist and punched the ground, channeling a beam of seizmic energy barreling for him underground.

Knuckles had his left fist cocked and ready, and the exact moment a stalagmite shot from the ground the echidna gunned his knuckles downwards, smashing the rock and making a small shockwave in the process.

The Blind Bandit had to raise an eyebrow at this...

Knuckles angrily charged for the girl. Toph countered this by spawning a large mound of earth from under her feet, riding the mound in a similar fashion she used to get back to Ba Sing Se. The two rocketed for eachother, neither wavering from this sudden game of chickenpig (or just chicken in Knuckles' case).

Knuckles ended up punching his way right through Toph's mound, her momentum launching her fifteen feet behind Knuckles, but she easily recovered with a nimble somersault along the ground and pumper her fists toward Knuckles, who could only turn around in time for another stalagmite to nail him in the snout, sending him flying into the window of nearest building.

* * *

Katara was on the stairway against the side of the city hall, fericely swinging her waterwhip at various angles, but the lashes were child's play for Rouge to evade, twirling stylishly through the air, only remaining with range of her whip simply so she could taunt her, which was totally working.

When Rouge saw even the slightest instance of frustration, she soared straight for her with her left boot, forcing Katara to quickly lean out of the way, and turn to look in shock at the sight of that same boot crash into the stone wall behind her. Rouge then removed her foot from he impression in the stone and spun the same boot at Katara, who backed away from it before it crashed into the wall again. Using her wings to stay afloat, Rouge kicked viciously at her opponent, who desperately blocked and perried the bat's kicks with her waterwhip, not wanting to know what those heels could do to her fingers if they came too close.

* * *

On the other side of the city hall was a similar situation, with slight differences:

Zuko nailed his target with every shot of his fireballs, but it didn't mean much since Silver easily shielded himself from the orange projectiles with his psychic energy.

Zuko tried conjuring a pair of fire tendril's to confuse Silver, but the only thing about the tendrils that left the grey hedgehog confused was how in the heck flaming whips were supposed to be more effective than fire balls, until one of them smacked against his forcefeild, which for a rather frightening split-second managed to cut into his defense. This was the perfect opportunity for Zuko to unleash a huge fire missile at Silver, which detonated onto his shield, blasting the hedgehog away a few meters.

This only prompted Silver to invisibly shove Zuko ten feet backwards. Silver closed in on the seemingly helpless Zuko, before another barrage of fireballs clashed with his sheild from the right.

"Huh? What the...!?" Silver muttered; he and Zuko turned to see a group of Fire Nation soldiers itching to destroy the rodent.

"What!? No fair!" Silver whined.

"One of the perks of being royalty!" Zuko smirked."Take out the hedgehog!" he commanded, shooting with his men.

* * *

Sokka scrambled through the halls of the city hall, screaming like a little girl as the little girl hedgehog relentlessly swung at him, slamming her hammer into various (and very expensive) objects that her hammer was not meant for.

Stupid Stupid Stupid! Why didn't Sokka make for his weapons when he had the chance!? Now he had to run around this building like a little girl while running from a little girl _hedgehog_ - boy, Suki's not gonna believe this...

"Awwww, come one! Can't we settle this peacefully!?" Sokka begged, diving on the other side of a couch.

"That ship's already sailed, jerk!" Amy replied, bring her hammer down on the couch, making one side bent up like a seasaw; Amy battered the couch away from her and Sokka's view and lunged for him again; he stumbled out of the hammer's way before it made a profound hole in the carpet.

"Can you at least tell me where you were hiding that thing!?" Sokka pleaded.

"I'LL HIDE IT IN YOUR FACE!" Amy cried rather nonsensically, swinging for him again, only for him to flee once more."Come back here and take your medicine!"

* * *

Shadow and Aang were now far apart from eachother but still keeping up, leaping from rooftop to rooftop on either side of the street.

However, Shadow caught the Aang by surprise when he used his homing attack to dash past Aang as he was making it to the next building, making a sharp turn in mid-air straight for him. the frightened Aang made an air shield but the black ball still managed to knock him back on onto the building he was on before, skidding to a halt on his toes.

Remaining in ball from, Shadow flew straight for the boy.

Taking full advantage his feet on some form of earth, Aang rooted his body in the stone and produced a rock gauntlet for his right hand that blocked the ball, bouncing Shadow off of him and onto the rooftop. With his left hand, Aang punched out a fire stream, forcing Shadow to leap to his left; Aang intercepted his movement by punching up a blunt earth spike that Shadow also had to dodge; Aang then swung a wave of flame that Shadow had to jump over; Aang forced the raised earth sliding at Shadow, who barely flipped over it (it grazed his quills). Taken off guard by the boy's sudden change in style, Shadow dashed to Aang vulnerable left to try to punch him; however, it was not ver vulnerable, as Aang lashed out ot Shadow with a fire dagger; Aang swung his gauntlet and fire in tandem to keep Shadow at bay, but Shadow dove under his dagger swing and gripped Aang's arm, flinging him over to the other end of the rooftop. Upon recovery, Aang had to launch himself into the air with a rock slab that Shadow destroyed with his spindash. Shadow look up to see Aang, then vanished in a greenish flash. Aang was both surprised and fearfully reminded of Chaos Control; he took a guess and flipped his body over to see Shadow about to clock him with both fist cupped together, which he block with his gauntlet, shattering it and shoving Aang to a position where he fell into the alley between builings, where he landed on one side.

Shadow touched down on the other side of the alley; the two stared down on another with surprisingly equal determination...

Aang produce a flame in his right hand and an airball in his left.

Shadow's fists lit up with yellow Chaos energy.

They charged, their attacks meeting at the center of the alley.

* * *

Tails heard a small explosion go off somewhere in the city.

The situation was beyond horrible: his closest friends besides Sonic had all somehow been pulled into a death match with the very people he was trying to befriend earlier, and worst of all, there was seemingly nothing the fox could do to stop them before somebody loses a limb!

The only way Tails could think to end this fight peacefully would be for him to convince both Shadow and Silver to withdraw from the fight they started so he could explain himself, but there was no way Silver was going to listen to Tails, and even if _Silver_ listened, he'd have to be _crazy_ to get in Shadow's way...

Oh, if only Sonic were here, then this wouldn't of happened.

Tails sighed.

But Sonic _wasn't_ here, and right now the only one who could solve this was himself; he just had to figure a way to redirect this boomerang back into peace...

Wait, boomerang?

From his place in the sky, the flying fox turned his attention back down to the city hall's court yard, and there he saw it: that blue boomerang Knuckles was carrying!

That one guy with the weird outfit said that it belonged to him; maybe, if Tails were to give his _weapon_ back to him willingly, he would let Tails explain who he and his friends are, and then _he_ would talk to the Avatar!

Of course that still meant getting in Shadow's way, but if he and the weird suit guy could convince the Avatar that Shadow wasn't the enemy, he would give up the Chaos Emerald...which he just...had...

Tails would deal with that later; right now, he had a boomerang to snag!

Knuckles pushed the thick stone slab through the street, pushing Toph on the other side. Toph gritted her teeth, having never before pushed against such a great force. Having enough of being out-Toph'd, she rooted her feet into the ground, stopping the stone and Knuckles instantly. Rather than just go around the stone like anyone else, Knuckles began rapidly punching the rock, wearing the block down gradually. Knowing this, Toph sunk underground completely before Knuckles' fist exploded out of the rock.

Knuckles paused, he could've sworn the girl was behind this rock a second ago; a moment later, the echidna also sunk into the dirt. A series of grunts and thuds resonated from under the surface before Knuckles was spewed out of the ground, screaming into the sky. Toph popped out afterwards. But Knuckles' scream morphed into a raging roar as Toph had to slide away before his fist impacted the earth, causing a huge shockwave that sent Toph tumbling further.

The dust-covered Knuckles put up his fists, baring his teeth.

Toph nonchalantly arose to her feet, spitting out a pebble; she smirked, then regressed into a rooted stance, geared her hands up, and summoning the all over her little body, covering her in full body rock armor, complete with oversized stone clubs for fists. She pointed her right fist the echidna, which change into a three fingered hand with fingers that gestured for him to bring it on.

Knuckles obliged, leaping at Toph with fist cocked. The gloved fist collided with the rock fist. The two began trading blows, blocking and parrying eachother's fists with their own. Knuckles tried to head butt Toph but only ended up hurting himself; Toph took advantage of this by punching Knuckles in his non-armored stomach, doubling Knuckles over.

The next thing Knuckles was Toph gunning her fist into his face.

* * *

"Having trouble keeping up?" Rouge teased as she kept on her barrage of kicks that Katara could barely evade.

Katara tried sending out her whip like a lance, but this move left her open for her right arm to be grabbed by Rouge and herself vaulted off the stairs and screaming down into the water main below.

Rouge flew down above the water surface to check for any sign of her; the bat smirked, thinking she was out."Well, that was disappointing; guess she just swam away..." she settle, before seeing some movement in the water...

Rouge only had the blink of an eye to dodged a hail of ice darts bursting out of he water; Katara rose up with her feet upon the water surface, launching a continuous volley of ice shards at the bat, which said bat desperately evaded.

"Having trouble keeping _up!?_" Katara called out, making a huge water tendril that swung mightily at Rouge like the tail of the Unagi.

Fully comprehending the irony, Rouge pulled out from behind her a small grey ball that she threw at Katara; when within six feet, the ball released a blinding flash that stunned Katara. Rouge swooped down and plucked her out of the water by her shoulders.

* * *

"KEEP FIRING!" Zuko ordered, as he and the soldiers continued hurling their fireballs at Silver.

The grey hedgehog maintained his forcefeild; when he had the opening, he blew a few soldiers away or lifted hunks of debris and launched them at Zuko, who incinerated them with a wide flame arc.

Silver smirked, wondering when these morons would realize they can't harm him. Of course that was just before _it_ happened...

As four fire streams pushed against the force field at once, it's cyan glow briefly lost its brilliance. It was the moment later that Silver started to feel fatigue, not of the body, but of the mind.

He was losing power!

Silver started to slowly descend uncontrollably, his shield gradually fading away.

Noticing this, Zuko pulled back and punch as hard as he could, unleashing a monstrous fireball that slammed into Silver, breaking the sheild and blasting the hedgehog off the building and into the water main below.

"Hunt him down; focus your efforts on taking that hedgehog down, then we'll move on to his friends!" the Fire Lord ordered. The men saluted, then scrambled to follow his directions.

* * *

Amy paced through the dark hallway, her hammer raised preemptively as she looked out for her target.

Unbeknownst to her, a figure ly hidden behind the leaves of the potted plant to her left, eyeing her like prey.

"SNEAK ATTACK!"Sokka cried, springing out through the leaves and tackling Amy, making her drop her hammer.

Sokka pinned Amy to the wall, holding her up to eye-level."I gotchyoo now, pinky!" he grunted, scowling at her.

The pink hedeghog blinked twice, then stared at teen with the most innocent, adorable eyes imaginable."You're not gonna hurt me, are you...?" she peeped meekly.

Sokka's scowl disappeared, suddenly plagued with guilt upon assaulting such a harmless little creature."wh...I...Well no, I-Ireally wasn't going to..."

Amy cutting him off with a kangaroo kick to the abs, knocking him on his butt while Amy landed on her feet.

From his seated position, Sokka started up in shock."clever girl..."

Amy slowly stepped towards Sokka, who was very nervous and started looking around for any means to defend himself; that's when he saw non-other than the pink hedgehog's hammer.

"Hah! Got your hammer!" Sokka announced, gripping the handle and pulling it...and pulling it...and pulling some more, but the hammer refused to disconnect from the ground."Geez! What's this thing made of!?"

"You must be worthy to weild the mighty Piko Piko..." Amy explained in a rather ethereal tone.

Sokka's expression was one of wonder."Really?"

The hedgehogette giggled."No, it's just really heavy," she replied before hopping inot he air and homing attacking Sokka in the face, knocking him away into a the other wall.

As soon as Sokka stopped seeing stars, he gasped as the ironically adorable mammal loomed over him, hammer raised.

"I'll teach you not to mess with my friends, punk...!" She growled, just before an explosion of debris erupt far to her left, Knuckles having tackled the armored Toph through the wall.

"Knuckles?" Amy noticed.

"Toph?" Sokka recognized.

Knuckles pummeled Toph deeper into the ground; Toph boxed his ears with her rock hands, grabbed his head and slammed it against the floor, then when he tried to get up, toph hopped up and dropped her elbow on his back.

The hedgehogette and warrior stared in equal bewilderment; however, Sokka was the first to recover from the weirdness, lunging forward taking Amy up into a full nelson. Amy screamed an whined, flailing her limbs all over the place.

Suddenly, an unseen force pried Sokka off of Amy, and rented the rock armor from Toph's body; Silver lifted them both in off their feet and snet them flying for one another, their head's smacking together. The dizzy Sokka and Toph were propped against eachother as Silver used the new entrance Knuckles made.

"Thanks, Silver" Amy beamed.

"Hey! I had her!" Knuckles complained.

"Not from where I was watching..." Silver replied.

Toph and Sokka shook their dizziness off, looking at eachother; they sprung up and assumed fighting poses against their new opponent.

"Don't bother with that, you're outnumbered now; and I don't think the astronaut is gonna make a difference," Silver warned.

"What'd you called me...?" Sokka raised his eyebrow, not just out of offense, but of curiosity.

The blind earthbender's smirk returned."You might wanna do a recount there, weirdo..."

Silver raised his own eyebrow."huh?"

But Amy understood, turning and looking behind Silver."Um, Silver, did you make some friends while you were gone...?"

Silver turned to Amy."_huh_?"

"FIRE!" the voice of Zuko roared.

Silver gasped, and as soon as he turned around, he made a force feild to block the torrent of fire caused by the Fire Lord and his squad.

"Whoo-hoo! Hurray, Fire Nation!" Sokka cheered.

Silver tried to blow them away, but he only caused them to stumble, and even then Zuko held his ground. Clearly, Silver had run out of energy from fighting so much.

Another group of Fire Nation soldiers appeared down the hallway to Silver's left.

"There's too many! Run!" Silver yelled as he hovered down the hall to Sokka's right.

"I can take 'em!" protested Knuckles, putting his fists up.

"Oh no you can't!" Amy disagreed as she and Silver pulled the echidna with them.

"Yeah, that's right, weirdos! Run away!" Toph taunted, following Zuko to chase them.

One of the nonbending soldeirs threw Sokka a spear; as he caught it, a strange primal instinct took over.

"I dine on Hedgehog tonight!" Sokka announced, following suit.

* * *

The Avatar and Ultimate Life Form blazed down the street, slinging fireballs and Chaos Spears at one another, which Aang blocked with airbending ans Shadow simply dodged; Aang tried making more earth obstacles that Shadow flipped over. When Shadow got too close, Aang tried to blast a torrent of fire with both his fists, but Shadow Chaos Controlled to Aang's right; they locked fingers, twirling around in a moving circle; Shadow used this to his advantage, spinning around him faster and using his momentum to freely swing Aang off his airscooter, eventually letting go and launching him far through the street, landing into a large fountain at another intersection. Aang exploded out as a huge spiraling pillar of water raised him up twenty feet. Shadow leaped in the air and tried to homing attack him, but Aang curved to the side, spinning around and air-blasting him fifty feet away; Shadow spun around and dug his heels into the dirt to stop himself, then spindashing back at the Avatar, who with airbending deflected him upward; Shadow homing attacked down on Aang, who blocked the attack and blasted him upward again; Shadow solved this by Chaos Controlling down near the base of the fountain and homing attacked the water pillar, breach out the other side and breaking Aang's concentration of it, making him fall; but Shadow stayed in ball form and looped in the air back behind the falling Aang to hit him, Aang tried to shield him self with air, but without the leavarage, the attack pushed him away from the fountain and allong ground, Aang having to stabilize himself with earthbending. Shadow's ball attack continued to push Aang down the middle of the street, endangering dozens of citizens and ostrich horses who ran for the side walk. Aang slid along the dirt road at a breakneck pace, and he could not keep both bendings active for much longer; in the face of the strain, Aang scrunched his eyelids shut, putting as much effort into resisting Shadow as possible. But just then, something in his mind, perhaps even his spirit, reminded him that resistance was no the strength of an airbender...

It was to use the enemy's force against them.

Immediately, Aang allowed his body to dropped back, making Shadow fly past him, having to catch himself on the ground with his fingers, skidding to a rough hault.

Aang rose again to his feet and assumed a new stance toward Shadow, a stance that he had long forgotten: the _Leaf in the Wind_ stance.

Not caring enough to discern the difference, Shadow spindash back at Aang, who bent to the side, twirling his body gracefully in sink with Shadow's own wind; Shadow caught himself again and spindash back at Aang, who repeated the maneuver. This pattern went on and on and on, but with each passing, the curve at which Shadow passed became gradually narrower - an effect that Shadow was not in control of. Shadow passed Aang again and again at sharper angles, a hundred and twenty degree angle, a hundred and ten degrees, one hundred degrees, eighty degrees, fifty degrees; soon Aang spun Shadow in a complete circle, sending him back where he was a split second ago. Shadow gritted his teeth, charged his spindash, and burst away at Aang, who this time caught him in his airbending, using Shadow's own momentum to spin the hedgehog around and around in a wide circle, picking up more wind as he spun; the circle shrunk by the second, Shadow's ball form orbiting Aang fast and faster. As a miniature twister threatened to form, the ball was mere inches from Aang's fingers, completely covered in a cocoon of airbending; Aang spun so fast he was like a blur; and then...

Aang stomped the ground with one foot, stopping his body on a dime and letting Shadow fly, his ball form rocketing into and out of a building and through several more buildings, finally crashing into the thick limestone base of a statue of Avatar Roku, destroying the base and causing the statue to collapse into the dust cloud.

The Avatar slumped to his knees, taking deep breaths out of both exhaustion and relief. But he new he could rest for long: his friends were still duking it out with those other talking animals; and if _that_ hedgehog were any indication, they needed him help now.

* * *

Katara struggled with all her might, but the bat would not let go.

"What do you expect me to do? drop you from a hundred-feet in the sky?" Rouge inquired.

"NO! Let me GO!" Katara continued senselessly.

Rouge was astounded by this girl: what exactly did she have that was worth going so crazy over?

But that thought ignited another thought, a thought that made her smirk. She looked down to notice that their was a small dufflebag strapped around the girl's waste.

"Hello, what do we have here...?"

* * *

Tails scrambled through the city hall, carrying the two weapons while searching for their professed owner.

"He _has_ to be in here somewhere..." Tails assured himself, having seen the teen flee within the building; just then, upon rounding a corner, he came across one he did not expect to see.

Kori and Tails both yelped in surprise.

"Doh! uuuh, Good afternoon!" Tails greeted sheepishly, raising his left hand.

Kori shrunk away in fear and assumed an earthbending stance.

Tails turned to see that his left hand was holding up the black sword; he too shrunk in fear,"Whoops!"

"What's going on here!? Why are you attacking the Avatar!?" Kori demanded out of tragic confusion.

"We're not attacking him! Well, yes we're attacking him _now _but, uhhh..." Tails had to recombobulate his speech for a moment,"What I mean is that I we never intended to fight Avatar Aang; in fact, we weren't even looking for him - we were looking for..."

"Sonnek?" Kori finished.

"Son-huh?" Tails mumbled, until he caught on,"You mean Sonic! Listen, I can explain everything...!"

But he could not as they heard explosions rock the hallway; Silver, Amy and Knuckles gunned down the hall, the tails of fire licking at them.

"TAILS!" Silver called.

"Silver...!?" before Tails could say anything else, Knuckles snatched Tails off his feet as they ran, not stopping for a second as Zuko, Toph, and his forces sprinted down the hall, rushing past the confused Kori like a rapid stream.

Tails and Kori made breif eye contact before she dissapeared behind the perusing soldiers.

* * *

Blowing out into the courtyard, the four (with Tails unwillingly) barreled straight for the stairs.

"Time to fly, guys...!" Silver informed them; Amy and Knuckles (still holding on to Tails) Grabbed Silver's hands, he then glowed cyan and took off ver the edge.

Unfortunately, this propulsion drastically weakened in mere moments, as the four started descending downward.

"What gives!?" Knuckles demanded.

The grey hedgehog groaned."I can't carry you guys; that fight with the Fire Lord drained me!"

"You gotta be kidding! We might as well of taken the stairs again!" Amy whined.

They drooped lower and lower, threatening to hit the said stair way; when Silver could take anymore, he dropped the three onto the stairs, he himself falling out of exhaustion. They rolled painfully down the last seven steps, stopping on the ground.

Silver his face off the dirt."Well, at least we got a head start..."

"That's not really a good thing..." Amy began,"look who just showed up..." she pointed to the sky.

The four gaped at the sight of Avatar Aang mounting a gigantic white flying buffalo, which touch down on the ground with a thud.

"...Well, Tails, now's your chance to talk to the Avatar..." Amy reminded.

At the sound of this, Silver whipped his head at Amy, the at the boy atop the bison."Wait, THAT'S THE AVATAR!?" he exclaimed in shock. But he then blinked, and took a good look at the boy."Wait, _that's_ that Avatar?" He queried flatly, pointing at him while glancing at Tails."He's like, what, eleven!?"

This elongated reaction bought enough time for the rest of the benders to show up; the Fire Nation soldiers gathered around them in a wide circle.

"Well, it looks like Aang's taken care of your friend..." Zuko observed."It's over; I don't know why you've assaulted our lives, but I honestly don't care - There is no way you're leaving this city in any form other than a prison convoy..."

"What're you gonna do?" Silver spat,"enslave us like all those women and children?"

"Silver, SHUT UP!" Tails pushed the hedgehog over."Will you people just listen to me! I dunno why Silver did it, but we're _not_ your enemies!" he pleaded.

" This coming from the one who tackled Katara..." Toph retorted.

"You tried to eat my sister's soul!" Sokka cried."And _you _tried to smash my head!" he pointed at Amy.

"I'm sorry, okay, it was an accident!" the fox tried to explain.

"Oh, pardon me, Mister Fox, was it _Aang's soul_ you were aiming for!?" was the warrior's reply,"And what's _her_ excuse!?"

"Look, we're getting off the subject...!" Tails tried; he turned to the Avatar."Listen, your Avatar-ness, I know you're probably really confused right now..."

"I was 'confused' about ten minutes ago, now I'm downright terrified!" Aang responded.

The fox winced."I can see that...but-"

"But nothing!" Zuko cut him off."Aang, don't listen to a word form these mongrels!"

"The only _mongrel_ here is YOU!" Silver persisted."Look, Avatar, you can't trust that guy; he's the reason for all the earthbender raids!"

Toph raised an eyebrow.

"Again with all the slave stuff! What are you even talking abo-nevermind! Aang, just glow it up and shut 'em up already!" Sokka groaned.

Out of desperation, Tails kneeled before Aang with his wrist held together."If you won't take ny word here, then take us prisoner so you can interrogate us."

_"What!?_" Silver/Knuckles trumpeted.

"We're not negotiating _anything_ with you!" Zuko finalized.

"You might want to rethink that, Scarface..."

All who heard to Aang's left - and gasped for different reasons.

Floating in the air was Rouge the Bat, holding a barely conscious Katara in her left hand...and the white Chaos Emerald in the other.

"No WAY!" Knuckles horned.

"How's that even possible!?" Amy marveled.

"Alright, Rouge! Quick, throw it to me!" Silver gestured.

"How smart of you, giving the most important jewel in the universe to this random girl; on second thought, that was pretty stupid - I feel sorry for the idiot who came up with that..."

Sokka facepalmed.

"Put her down!" Aang commanded.

"Tell you what, I keep the emerald, you get the girl, nobody gets hurt." Rouge proposed.

"WE'RE NOT NEGOTIATING!" Zuko shouted, punching a large fireball at the bat to the shock of his friends.

The frightened bat dashed out of the way of the fireball, inadvertently, dropping Katara and flinging the Chaos Emerald forward.

It was as if time itself slowed down.

For the thinnest fraction of a second, no one knew which one to catch first.

Aang, Tails, and Amy flew straight for Katara.

Knuckles, Zuko, Silver, Sokka, Toph, and a few soldiers went for the emerald.

Tails caught Katara first, to the surprise of Aang.

"We're...not your enemies..." the fox panted.

The Avatar didn't know what to say...

"Um...AANG! Turn around!" Sokka called.

Aang immediately wheeled around to see who caught the Chaos Emerald, but it wasn't any of the people he expected to catch it.

Sokka, Knuckles, Zuko, Toph, Silver, and the soldiers all stood frozen in shock at the Chaos Emerald, now wrapped in the fingers of a audibly breathing Shadow.

"I...did not...come here... to lose my emerald...to a bunch of spoiled, whimpering children..." the black hedgehog hissed, the jewel's glow intensifying in his hand.

Suddenly, Shadow's eye's glowed blood red; the same color surrounded his body as a thin aura of energy.

"What's he doing? What is he doing!?" Sokka demanded Knuckles.

"I dunno...!" the echidna responded.

While this was confusing to the majority of the party, Rouge looked closely, and noticed that Shadow's signature golden ring braces usually on his wrist and ankles were no longer there."Oh no..." she gaped.

"QUICK! TAKE THE EMERALD FROM HIM!" Tails cried, speeding frantically for Shadow, clamping his hands on the emerald and trying to pry it from his fingers.

"Oh man, don't tell me he's gonna...!" Toph vocalized.

At the very thought, everyone near the black hedgehog swarmed him, jerking on his arms and legs, some even punching and kicking him, all trying their darnedest to separate him the intensely glowing emerald.

But Shadow couldn't feel it, he couldn't even _be_ moved; his eyes focused on the ground, completely oblivious to all the screams around him. All he could feel was, anger, hatred, _torment, destruction..._

_**Doom...**_

The commotion brought Katara back to her senses."Wha, What's happening?"

"OUT OF THE WAY...!" Zuko announced, allowing everyone to duck away as he unleashed a wide stream of fire onto the hedgehog, swallowing him in the flames.

But all efforts were futile: Shadow's body spark with red electricity; this was enough to frighten Appa, making him fly away.

"We're too late!" Tails yelled.

"Oh man, he's totally gonna...!" Toph cried.

"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Silver shrieked.

The two teams madly dashed in their respective directions on either side from the stairs.

Aang took Katara by the hand and pulled her away with the rest of Team Avatar.

The black hedgehog levitated off of the ground.

**"Chaos...**

Shadow curled his limbs together like a developing child, his whole body dissapearing in ball of blinding red light.

**"BLAST!"**

He detonated, unleashing a massive explosion of red Chaos energy, devouring the block itself, rising to the top of the buildings, shattering countless windows, breaking through the walls that held them, launching rocks and carriages and debris into the sky, blasting either team off their feet. The entire city shook from the thunderous boom that could seen from the mountains.

* * *

Shortly after, and perhaps causing it, the sky was covered with grey clouds; a drizzle poured down upon the city, a series of small thunder bolts ensues.

Rouge, having flown into the sky, uncovered her shielded eyes to see the damage: the area around Shadow had been charred black; the light posts were bent away or pried from their foundation by the solid force, the stair way closest to the ground was gone, only a pile of black rocks leading even up to the top. the walls facing the explosion had collapsed, enabling Rouge to see into the building, revealing grave structural damage and obliterating anything that was once inside of them.

The black hedgehog himself lay in the center of a deep crater, clearly unconscious, but his fingers were still clamped around the prized jewel. She was tempted to smile.

The soldiers helped their superiors up off the ground.

"Aw, man, my ears are ringing...Anybody hurt?" Sokka grumbled.

"I'm just glad I have _limbs_ after that..." Toph replied.

Rouge landed next to Shadow; knowing she could not remove the emerald from his grasp even while asleep, she simply lifted the hedgehog over her shoulder."Well, at least you provided that distraction; and we got the emerald, so I'd say that's a victory..." she lamented glibly, running back to the other's.

"What the heck was that!?" Knuckles demanded.

"It was Shadow's 'Chaos Blast'" Tails answered."I think Black Doom taught that to him..." he speculated as Rouge ran up to them.

"Okay, I got the emerald; now let's get the heck out of here..." the bat said.

"I told you to give to me..." Silver complained.

Tails blinked."...but, But what about the..."

"Tails..." Amy interrupted grabbing his shoulder."Forget about it; it's over..."

As the other four ran away, Tails could only turn back and look out into the distance, seeing Avatar Aang just standing their, frozen in total confusion; he too turned and saw Tails.

They shared eye contact...

As the thunder grew stronger, Tails closed him eyes and ran away with his friends, their figures distorted by the intensifying rainfall.

The Avatar's focus was cut off by Sokka's hand on his onw shoulder."Come on, Aang, let's get out of this rain..." he suggested, tugging him along with the gang.

The two teams broke off into the city.

The convergence was over; the bond that could have been was stopped before it could have even began.

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN.**

**Deadpool: More like dun dun-just giving another excuse for them to fight eachother again and killing EVRYONE'S HOPES for the Gaanf FINALLY temaing up with the SONIC HEROES!**

**Oh don't act like you _didn't_ want to see them fight, Mr. Marvel vs Capcom.**

**Deadpool: Aw, Morrigan, I shall miss thee...**

**Just forget about her, Wade, she would've sucked your blood dry anyway.**

**Deadpool: *sigh* yeah, I guess you're ri-wait, MORRIGAN WAS A VAMPI-!**

**Please Review!**


	24. Edge of the North Part 2

A sudden metal shifting noise disturbed Sonic from his slumber. He looked up to see a surprise...

The latch used to trap him was reopened, and by non-other than Zuko's uncle.

"Glad to see you've gotten your rest, but now you need to get out of there," Iroh began.

Raising an eyebrow, Sonic simply shrugged, rose to his feet and jumped out of the latch and next to Iroh.

"What gives, general? Switching sides?" the blue hedgehog inquired.

"I'm trying to save the world," Iroh replied.

"Yeah, that's kinda' my job..." Sonic reminded.

"I am aware of that," Iroh added,"Now listen, what I'm about to tell you concerns not only the Northern Water Tribe, but the world itself: I was speaking to Admiral Zhao about his invasion plan, and he told me that he had somehow discovered that the Moon spirit had long ago descended into a physical form somewhere in the city. Zhao plans on finding the Moon Spirit, and killing it."

Sonic blinked in surprise."But wait, if he does that then..."

"The the moon will vanish, and the whole world will be thrown out of balance," Iroh finished gravely."Sonic, I know full well that I could be imprisoned for this, but I believe we must work together to stop him."

"No news there..." the hedgehog lamented."So how did President Zhao-bama find this out?"

"He said something about an ancient library that he found during his travels with general Shu," Iroh explained."He probably kept the records in his quarters," he paused to look around,"his real quarters, that is..."

"Good, show me," Sonic requested.

* * *

The hedgehog and firebender walked down the metal hallway; no resistance so far...

"WHere is everybody?" Sonic wondered.

"Oh, you know, off to battle and such..." Iroh shook his head,"I am so tried of war; I only came so I could help my nephew capture...well, you..." he explained.

The hedgehog blew it away."No worries; that guy needs all the help ha can get..." Sonic joked.

Iroh sighed."I know that Zuko seems unruly and selfish, but the truth is that, he's trying to seek his honor. You see, almost three years ago, his father," he snorted," my little brother, told him to leave the Fire Nation and never return until he had captured the Avatar."

"Why would someone do something like that?" Sonic wondered.

Iroh shrugged."You will have to ask him yourself. I know you're not the Avatar, but I can still see you facing the Fire Lord one day; he's not one to be taken lightly..."

"Yeah? Well neither am I," Sonic boasted."In fact, as soon as I'm done with Zhao-Zhao the Claown, I just might pay your bro' a visit..." Sonic speculated. And that's when a thought occurred."Hang on a second: you said he was you little brother, right? So why are you, ya know..."

Iroh looked away."I'd rather not talk about it. And I would suggest you wait to face him until you are sure you're ready..."

"Speaking of ready, I just had this crazy idea..." Sonic began,"I heard that this Avatar-guy was master of all four elements, am I right?

Iroh nodded.

"Well, since there is no Avatar, what if I got together four masters of the elements to fight the Fire Lord? I mean, that's gotta be the closest thing to the Avatar..."

Iroh stroked his beard."That's not too bad an idea, but where exactly are you going to find a master of airbending?"

Sonic shrugged."Well, I'm pretty airy, so I guess I'll do; what about you? Know any good firebenders?"

"You're actually asking me to help you find a firebender willing to help you defeat my own brother? Now I know I'm going to be imprisoned..."

"You don't seem too shaken by the idea..." Sonic noticed.

Iroh chuckled."Very observant of you; I'll see what I can do with Zuko..." he implied before stopping next to a particular door with a highly decorated fire Nation emblem. Iroh use firebending to melt the lock; Sonic kicked the door open. showing an empty room with a bed and desk with scrolls on it.

Sonic marched right in and took up one o the papers; he frowned."uuuh, Hey, you think you could read this for me?" he asked Iroh.

The general shrugged, taking the scroll."Hm, very interesting: it says here that long ago near the beginning of life, Tui and La, the moon and ocean, crossed over form the Spirit World into the Mortal World as animals, so that they would not be bothered with human affairs. They circle eachother in an endless dance. They provide eachother with balance, same as our moon prodies balnce to the ocean, representing push and pull, life and death, good and evil...yin and yang..."

Sonic blinked."Wait a minute: animals? Circleing eachother? Why does that sounds so..." it was then that a random memory manifest in Sonic mind: the image of two fish, one black and one white, doing nothing but swimming around in an endless loop, a circle of sorts...

He facepalmed."Dangit, I ran right past 'em!"

Just then, the light from the window had changed from a calm blue to a, ominous red. Sonic and Iroh took a look outside too see quiet a horror: the moon itself had turned blood red, reshading everything red, as if someone had merely changed switched paint of a picture.

"We're too late; Zhao's captured the Moon Spirit!" Iroh realized."

"Not if I can help it! Hang on...!" Sonic announced, gripping Iroh's wrist, leaping out the window with the screaming Iroh, and dashing along the water back into the red city.

* * *

"I am a legend now," the admiral marveled at his own achievement,"The Fire Nation will forever tell stories about the Great Zhao, who darkened the Moon. They will call me 'Zhao the Conquerer', 'Zhao the Moon Slayer'...'Zhao, the INVINCIBLE!'"

"...Because I totally don't have enough titles already!" the voice of Sonic called, imitating Zhao's tone.

The admiral wheeled his head to his left to see his blue furry nemesis, standing on the middle of the small bridge."And please don't blurt my name out in surprise,"Sonic asked politely," I've had my fill of villain cliche's from you after that trap-door gag..."

"Sonic!" the tied up Katara shouted out of joy.

The hedgehog sighed."Come on, even Princess Peach isn't this obtuse!"

"Well we're sorry, what did you expect us to say?" the also tied-up Sokka inquired.

Sonic shrugged."I dunno, maybe ask me how my day went, or if I'm hungry, or how 'bout not getting captured every time I'm gone for too long!?" he requested."Look maybe it's just me, but between that baby-faced prince and Lil' Zhao Zhao over here, lately it seems like life is just one spy flick after another..."

"You do know I'm standing right here, right? I am literally holding the Moon Spirit in my grasp and you'r actually ignoring me!?" the admiral reminded irritably, holding the bag and gesturing to it.

Sonic scratched his ear."Yeah, about that: why would you even want the spirit of the moon; I mean, what would you do with it? Hold the moon hostage and ask for a ransom? Like anybody would believe that. Or maybe you could rent it out to people and make a profit off the loans? Not very threatening but at least it's progressive. Hey by the way, do you think the moon spirit tastes like cheese...?"

"THAT'S IT! You say one more word and I'll fry this fish!" Zhao roared, raising his firebending fist next to the bag.

The hedgehog gaped at his threat."Whoah, wait a minute there! I was just kidding about that eating the fish-thing!" he pleaded, shaking his hands.

"It's my destiny...to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe..." he admiral grilled almost fanatically.

"Listen, do you have any idea of what that'll do to the world?" Sonic asked.

"Do you?" Zhao countered.

Sonic was about to answer, but realized he couldn't"Well not really, I just found out like less than one minute ago...but still! That's the spirit of the moon! You can't just destroy the moon!"

"He's right, Zhao..." Iroh added, walking up the bridge next to Sonic.

The hedgehog blinked."Um, were you just standing back there waiting to make a dramatic entrance?"

"General Iroh..." Zhao noted indifferently,"Why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?"

"I'm no traitor, Zhao," Replied Iroh,"The Fire Nation needs the moon too - we depend on the balance."

Zhao still held the bag up to his fist.

"Put...the fish...down..." Sonic glared.

Zhao's lip's tightened.

"LET IT GO, NOW!" Iroh roared out of nowhere.

Zhao's expression faded; he turned around and opened the bag, letting the white coi fish slip back into the pool. happily welcomed by her mate. And so the red moon, sky and environment, return to a peaceful blue.

Sonic sighed."Now see? Was that so..." he was interrupted by the sound of the admiral screaming madly, raising his arm to blast the fish.

"NO!" the hedgehog cried, bolting straight for Zhao.

The blue blur blew the firebender off his feet, sending them both into the water behind. Iroh immediately went to work on the four soldiers, blocking their fireblast and countering with his own.

Sonic erupted out of the water, his arms flailing wildly."AHHHHHHH! HELP! I'M DROWNING!"

At this, Sokka sighed."No, Sonic, you're not..."

Sonic paused, looking down to notice that the water only went up to his neck, and even then the diminutive hedgehog was sitting down."oh..."

Suddenly, the water behind Sonic began to boil; Zhao exploded up to his feet with a furious yell, pumping both his fist at Sonic, forcing the hedgehog to leap over a wide stream of fire, causing steam to diffuse from the water.

Zhao punched four fire balls straight up at Sonic, who spin-dash away and landed behind him. Zhao, swung his left fist back at Sonic, making a wave of flame that Sonic had to jump over again, and making more steam from out of the water.

"YOU RUINED MY DESTINY!" the admiral whaled, punching more fireballs at Sonic, who kept on dodging through various swerves, bends, flips, rolls, and jumps. Fire ball after fireball Zhao punched at Sonic, making more and more steam rush up from the water; at some point, there was so much steam that the firebender could barely see beyond his own fists.

"I'll ruin more than that..."

Out of the mist came a blue ball that slammed into Zhao's back, tumbling him six feet across the water; as Zhao got up again, the ball got him in the right shoving him down into the water.

At this point, Zhao's top know was messed up, locks of hair dangling in front of his face, his beard was haggard, and had such a look of fear in his eyes, one would say he'd aged by five years.

"Y-You think I'm afraid of you...?" Zhao called out, his voice trembling.

Suddenly, the steam around him began to swirl counter-clockwise, assuming the form of a small twister, with Zhao in the center.

"I...I'm Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moon Slayer...I WILL CAPTURE YOU! ! !"

The spiraling funnel of steam dissipated into the air, Sonic skidding to a halt."Yeah? That's what Eggman says."

Sonic spin dashed straight for Zhao, and collided with his abdomen, sending the admiral flying into the arch behind the pool, collapsing it.

The hedgehog dust his hands."Welp' I guess that's one moon saved; heh, 'least it had better luck than my moon..."

"Not quite, Avatar...!"

The blue hedgehog froze, slowly turning his eyes to his right."no..."

"Yes..." Zuko greeted. To the shock of even Iroh, the prince managed to use the fight as a distraction while he snuck over to the pool and reached into it, now holding the black ocean spirit by its tail.

"You gotta be kidding me! How'd we miss that!?" Sokka gaped.

"I believe you know how this works, rodent: you give yourself over to me, and I'll spare this fish my wrath..." Zuko explained.

Iroh began to sweat profusely."Zuko, listen to me, you do not know what you are doing; please, just put the spirit down and leave it be..."

"Don't be a an idiot, Uncle!" Zuko dismissed."The last thing I need is for you to fall for these peasants and their superstitions as well."

"Dude, seriously, where were you the past five minutes? The Moon Spirit is one thing, but that's the Spirit of the Ocean you got there!" Sonic tried to explained.

"Please, just put it down! Sonic isn't worth this!" Yue pleaded desperately.

"She's right! Wait, huh?" Sonic mumbled, taking Yue's comment the wrong way for a moment; but he shook his head."Look, don't be like Zhao, okay? I get that you have this honor trip and stuff, but you are takin' this way too far! Just let'em go so we can talk..."

"Well, if you care about this piece of meat so much, you should surrender now so it doesn't get hurt," Zuko replied forebodingly.

"You already know that's not gonna happen," Sonic said with resolve.

"That's a real pity then..." Zuko seethed.

Iroh expression became one of fury." Zuko, you know I love you, but whatever you are prepared to do to that spirit, I will unleashed upon you tenfold!" he warned, assuming a firebending stance against his own kin.

The princess other fist tightened; his eyes sealed shut by so many conflicting emotions."I'm sorry, Uncle, I'm too close to give up now..." he lamented, before doing something that took the whole company - even himself - offguard: he opened his mouth wide and crammed the fish down his throat, swallowing it whole.

Everyone's jaw hung open at the prince...

Zuko had to take deep breath after devouring the fish. He paused, surprised by how smoothly the fish went down, until he clutched his stomach in pain.

Suddenly, the water all around them turned from calm blue to glowing gold; the ice wall shift into gold; the entire ice city, its waterways, and eventually the ocean itself turned bright gold.

* * *

The all the world's oceans transformed as well, blanketing half the planet itself with gold.

* * *

Iroh gaped in terror."Zuko...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

The prince bent over, wrapping his arms around his stomach in agony."What's...happening to me!?" his now golden blood vessels were illuminated under his skin; his eyes shined gold as if he were in the Avatar State; the screaming prince meandered back until his stumbled back-first into the oasis...

After a few seconds, the pool turn golden as well, bubbling and shaking the ground around it. The water erupted out like a golden geyser; the pillar of golden water extended to four hundred feet in the sky, bent and contorted into various loops like the body of a serpent. The Moon Spirit was spewed out and flopped before Sonic's feet.

The water pillar's texture changed to resemble the scales and belly of a reptile; the top of the water split slightly down the middle, forming long sharp teeth at inside.

Sonic, Katara, Sokka, Yue, Iroh, and all the citizens and firebenders in the city beheld the sight.

Prince Zuko appeared with where the brain would be, at the complete command of the gigantic transparent, liquid golden dragon who's roar resonated throughout the North Pole.


End file.
